Melbourne: Australian police have ruled out any links to extremist groups in the stabbing of a 21-year-old British woman to death at a backpackers' hostel in the country's northeast even as a romantic angle is being probed.
"What I can say, at this stage, (is) there is absolutely no – and I repeat – there is absolutely no indication of any form of radicalisation or any particular motive in relation to this matter," Queensland Police Detective Superintendent Ray Rohweder said.
On Wednesday, police said they were investigating links to any extremists groups in the stabbing to death of Mia Ayliffe Chung by 29-year-old French national Smail Ayad who said "Allahu akbar" during both his arrest and the attack witnessed by a crowd of 30 people.
"But we're certainly far from reaching any positive conclusions as to motive or anything like that. We intend to attempt to interview the suspect today and I would imagine that we will be in a position to either charge or release the suspect," he added.
The stabbing incident took place on Tuesday at Shelley's Backpackers in Home HIll, 100 kilometres south of Townsville by Ayad, who was also staying at the hostel. He also attacked and injured a 30-year-old British man who came to Mia's rescue.
Ayad underwent a psychiatric assessment and may have used cannabis prior to the attack, Rohweder said, adding police were probing if the suspect had any romantic interest in Mia.
"There is certainly at this stage no indication – from Mia's point of view – that there was any sort of romantic connection.
"We are certainly looking at everything that's occurred down there over the last couple of days. Stating that the suspect was violent with police officers," he said.
"When we transported the suspect from the Townsville hospital to the Townsville police station, the suspect behaved in an extremely violent manner, which necessitated police stopping the motor vehicle and attempting to restrain him.
"As a result of that, police received some injuries, including just cuts and abrasions but also a bite to the leg, and other police then arrived and assisted the two detectives, and he was subsequently placed in a van and taken to Townsville police station," he added.
