3 killed as car plows through crowd in Austria, driver goes on 'stabbing spree'

At least three people have been killed and dozens injured in the Austrian city of Graz where a man drove his van into a crowd and then reportedly went on to stab people. A seven-year-old boy is reportedly among the victims of the attack.

Some of the thirty-four injured are in critical condition, Austrian Wiener Zeitung reports. Other sources put the number of those injured at up to 50.

Witnesses of the event say that a man drove his SUV into the crowd at random and, when the vehicle stopped, went out wielding a knife. He then started stabbing the near-by people. The screaming crowd ran into shops to seek help.

"At 12pm there was an appalling incident in the center of Graz, which has caused major alarm and left the city deeply shaken,” a statement from the city council said, "A killer used his car as a weapon and deliberately ran people down on a rampage. The perpetrator is in custody."

The man was arrested, local police told Kleine Zeitung. He is described as a 26-year-old Austrian of Bosnian origin. Police officials do not attribute the attack to “fanaticism” and say it has no terrorist background.

The downtown area in Graz, the second-largest city in Austria, is currently sealed off.

At least 60 ambulances and four helicopters were deployed at the scene to bring the victims of the attack to local hospitals.

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