IS flag found

Villach attacker radicalized himself on TikTok

An IS flag was found on the Villach attacker. He is said to have radicalized himself via social media.

(Bild: APA/PETER LINDNER, AFP, Krone Kreativ)

New details about the Villach attacker, who stabbed himself with a folding knife on Saturday afternoon and fatally injured a 14-year-old boy: the 23-year-old Syrian had radicalized himself via TikTok and an IS flag was seized at his home. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) announced mass checks. 

The latest developments in brief:

• The suspected Syrian was not known to the police and is now being charged with murder and five counts of attempted murder.

• During a house search, IS flags were found on the 23-year-old. He had become radicalized online"within a very short time".
• The police are not currently assuming that there are any accomplices, but the police presence in Villach remains increased.
• Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) announced a "mass screening without cause of certain target groups" such as asylum seekers with a Syrian and Afghan background.

Villach mourns the victims of the dramatic knife attack, now it is clear that Ahmad G. (23) clearly had a terrorist motive and wanted to kill or at least seriously injure as many people as possible. 

Followed Islamist preachers via TikTok
As the newspaper "Krone" learned from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the 23-year-old radicalized himself - similar to the Swift attacker Beran A. - via social media. He followed various Islamist preachers on TikTok. An IS flag was also seized in the Villach attacker's apartment and he is also said to have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State. 

An IS flag was found on the Villach attacker. He is said to have radicalized himself via social media.

(Bild: APA/PETER LINDNER, AFP, Krone Kreativ)

(Bild: Jennifer Kapellari)

(Bild: zVg)

(Bild: zVg)

No threat, no previous convictions
What is striking, however, is that Ahmad G. was not considered a threat. In Austria, 150 people are currently classified as such by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution - but the 23-year-old Syrian, who had been in Austria since 2020 and had only just been recognized as a refugee, was not on any list. He was also a blank slate with international intelligence services. The Syrian also had no criminal record. 

The 23-year-old had randomly stabbed passers-by in the center of Villach on Saturday. One teenager (14) did not survive his serious injuries, five other people were injured, some of them seriously. These were two 15-year-olds, a 28-year-old, a 32-year-old and a 36-year-old. Four of them have Austrian citizenship, one victim has Turkish citizenship. The murder weapon was a folding knife with a ten centimeter long blade.

Here you can see a picture of the Syrian:

A Syrian food delivery man ran down the perpetrator with his car and prevented worse. According to investigators, the 23-year-old had apparently planned to have himself shot by the police. 

Ministry has protection status holder checked
The Ministry of the Interior said that the Director General for Public Security and the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum would be commissioned to carry out "mass checks without cause on those who have been granted protection status in recent years, especially Syrians and Afghans". 

Karner: "Mass checks without cause"
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) thanked the emergency services at a press conference on Sunday afternoon and expressed his sympathy to the families of the victims. He said it was necessary to draw consequences, lock up the assassin and deport him. State security needed the means to intervene and carry out "mass checks without cause". Target groups include persons entitled to asylum with a Syrian and Afghan background.

Carinthia's Governor Peter Kaiser (SPÖ) said that things like the attack could only be prevented with prevention. "We will have to rethink many things in light of this dramatic event (...). It will also be about why radicalization can take place on communication platforms in a short space of time." There will be a crisis intervention on Monday for the classmates of the victim.

We will have to rethink many things in light of this dramatic event.

Kärntens Landeshauptmann Peter Kaiser

Police presence increased
"We must not allow such crimes and such criminals to take away our cohesion in our city, our country". The community must not let go, said Kaiser.

Provincial police director Michaela Kohlweiß reported on Sunday that two perpetrators were briefly assumed. As a result, the Villach train station, among others, had been closed. The suspect was not known to the police. He would probably have accepted his own death and had himself shot. His home and that of a relative were already at the center of the investigation. An IS flag was seized in the process. Following the incident, the police presence in the city was increased and 120 security forces were deployed at midday on Saturday.