An Afghan citizen is suspected of fatally stabbing a 16-year-old girl in her own home in Austria. The alleged perpetrator – also a teenager - has been detained after being on the run, police announced in a tweet.

The 17-year-old is alleged to have stabbed his ex-girlfriend in the back, puncturing her lung. According to media reports, the victim’s mother had to force the bedroom door open after becoming worried about her daughter.

Beim Tatverdächtigen handelt es sich um Saber Akhondzada. Er ist 174 cm groß, schlank, hat schwarze Haare, braune Augen; er hat Hautmale auf der linken Wange, am Hals rechts und an der Oberlippe rechts.Hinweise an das LKA OÖ unter 📞 059133/40 3333 oder jede Polizeidienststelle. pic.twitter.com/bxH2GweNcm — POLIZEI OÖ (@LPDooe) December 10, 2018

Despite the door being barricaded from inside, the woman still managed to make her way in… only to discover the teen’s body. Investigators believe the suspect jumped out the window (as it was wide open) – leaving the girl dead on the floor.

The murder occurred in the town of Steyr, just about two hours west of Vienna. It is said that the ex-boyfriend lived nearby at home for asylum seekers and had an on-off relationship with the 16-year-old. The motive behind the tragedy is still being investigated.

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A neighbor described the suspect as “close-lipped,” yet stressed that the girl was also rather quite. So far, there are no reports the youngster has been implicated in any other offences or crimes.

Apart from him living in the shelter for asylum seekers, few details are known. There is also no information on whether the youngster had permanent or temporary rights for staying in Austria.

Vienna has been an outspoken critic of the EU’s open-door migrant policy. Widespread anti-immigrant sentiment was sparked after Austria took in some 150,000 asylum seekers starting in 2015 – a number which accounts for over one percent of its total population. The ruling conservative coalition government has adopted a strict stance on migration, with the Interior Ministry even mulling a “border protection unit” to prevent a repeat of the 2015 migrant influx.

In November, Vienna announced that it would back out of a UN pact on international cooperation on migration, insisting that the agreement is inadequate for managing global migration flows and threatens Austria's sovereignty.

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