Four Somalian men attacked a teenager in his Vienna home because he is gay.

The attack happened earlier this year but now police have reported they arrested all four men accused of the crime.

As is common under privacy regulations, Austrian police have not released the names or images of any of the men involved.

At around 10.30pm on 17 February the four men, some of them masked, allegedly forcibly entered the 19-year-old victim’s flat.

‘They threatened the man with a pneumatic weapon and beat him,’ Irina Steirer, spokesperson for the police force, told Austrian newspaper Kronen-Zeitung.

The group also stole their victim’s iPad, his mobile phone and a number of items of clothing before fleeing the scene.

The teenager suffered ‘several’ serious cuts and bruises on his head and went to hospital to receive outpatient treatment.

As part of their investigation, police officers showed the teen several pictures of suspects who had already had their fingerprints and photographs taken.

He recognized one of his alleged attackers among the men.

On Tuesday (18 April) Vienna police reported they had arrested the four attackers after officers conducted ‘extensive investigations’ and traced the suspects.

During the interrogation one of the suspects blamed the teenager’s homosexuality for the attack.

‘As a motif for the crime one of the accused said the victim had been chosen because of his sexual orientation,’ Steirer said.

She also said the man had called the teen’s sexuality ‘a disgrace’.

All four suspects remain in detention awaiting trial.