A stabbing in Austria that killed a 14-year-old boy and wounded five others was an Islamist attack, the country’s interior minister has said.

The attack took place on Saturday at Villach, a town near the border with Italy and Slovenia.

A 23-year-old Syrian asylum seeker was detained at the scene.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said the attack was linked to the Islamic State group and the suspect appeared to have been radicalised online.

Authorities previously said he had a temporary residence permit and was waiting for a decision on his asylum application.

Speaking at a news conference on Sunday, Karner said this was an “Islamist attack with IS links by an attacker who, according to the investigations so far, was obviously radicalised online, via the internet, within a very short space of time.

“So those in a position of responsibility, the police, the authorities, must draw the necessary conclusions from that.”