Austria: A 31-year-old soldier was killed by two service dogs while feeding at a barracks in the city of Wiener Neustadt.

A soldier spotted two Belgian shepherd dogs running freely at a barracks in Wiener Neustadt, south of Vienna, on the morning of November 14, the Austrian Defense Ministry said in a statement. This person later discovered the body of the sergeant on in their cage.

"It seems the dogs attacked the soldiers," the statement said.

The victim is a member of the elite Jagdkommando task force, which has been tasked with taking care of the dogs at the barracks since 2017. The Austrian army currently has 170 service dogs.

Austrian TV station ORF quoted a Defense Ministry spokesman as saying one of the two dogs had completed the training, and the other, about 6 months old, was about to attend the training program.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen sent his condolences to the victims' families and teammates. The cause of the attack is still under investigation.