A French man allegedly cried “Allahu Akbar” during a stabbing attack that left a 21-year-old British woman dead in front of up to 30 onlookers at a backpackers hostel in Australia’s north-east.
The 29-year-old suspect allegedly repeated the phrase – which means God is greatest in Arabic – when arrested by Queensland police who were “confronted with a terrible scene” at the hostel in Home Hill – about 100km south of Townsville – on Tuesday night.
Steve Gollschewski, a deputy police commissioner, said the alleged offender’s comments “may be construed as being of an extremist nature” and investigators were working with Australian federal police to establish his motives.
But police were “not ruling out any motivations at this early stage, whether they be criminal or political”. The alleged attack also left a British man, 30, in a critical condition with stabbing wounds. A local man, 47, who intervened suffered non life-threatening injuries and a dog at the hostel was fatally wounded.
The French man is in Townsville hospital after being injured. He has been taken into police custody, with charges yet to be laid.
He was not being held under federal anti-terrorist laws but state criminal laws, with investigators were considering charges including murder and attempted murder, Gollschewski said.
The man had been on Australia on a temporary visa since March and appeared to have “no local connections”, the deputy police commissioner said. He was not previously known to police.

source: guardian