Stabbing suspect had pledged allegiance to IS

(CLO) The Syrian asylum seeker arrested in a deadly knife attack in the Austrian town of Villach had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization, Austrian authorities said on Sunday.

Police said a 14-year-old boy was killed in the attack on Saturday afternoon in central Villach and five others were injured, three of whom are in intensive care.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told a press conference in Villach that the 23-year-old Syrian man, who was arrested seven minutes after his first call to police, had been rapidly radicalised on the internet and an IS flag had been found in his apartment.

Austrian stabbing suspect smiles before being arrested. Source: X/WI

Minister Karner also said officials should have more powers to screen asylum seekers and there should be “mass testing without cause in many areas”.

Police said the man, who is charged with murder and attempted murder, had recorded himself pledging allegiance to IS. Authorities said there would have been more damage had another Syrian, a food delivery driver, not seen the attacker and drove into him to stop him.

IS has not yet claimed responsibility for the attack. However, the media arm of IS’s Afghanistan affiliate, Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), recently circulated an IS post calling for lone wolf attacks in the US and Europe, according to SITE Intelligence.

The stabbing in Austria came just days after a terrorist-inspired car attack in the neighboring German city of Munich, in which an Afghan national drove a car into a crowd, injuring dozens of people, including two who died.

In Germany, the recent wave of immigration from Muslim-majority countries and the integration of asylum seekers have become hot political issues ahead of a snap election on February 23.

And like Germany's far-right AfD, opposition to illegal immigration and a pledge to step up deportations to countries like Syria and Afghanistan are central to the platform of Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPO).

“No migrant can commit murder or any other crime in our country if they are not in Austria in the first place,” FPO leader Herbert Kickl said in a statement.

Hoang Huy (according to DW, Reuters, AUN)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/ao-nghi-pham-dam-dao-tung-the-trung-thanh-voi-khung-bo-is-post334779.html