Nitra assault on Indian students by masked men leaves teacher injured

On the night of 31 July–1 August 2026, four Indian students were sitting on a bench along the Nitra River in Nitra, Slovakia, when a group of four men wearing masks approached them. After asking the students where they were from, the attackers began beating them when they answered India.

One of the victims, 35‑year‑old Ansar Thayyib – an English teacher and PhD student at the University of Constantine the Philosopher – was knocked to the ground and kicked repeatedly. He suffered a broken cheekbone, fractures of the upper jaw, facial injuries that required stitching, and damage to an eye. Thayyib was first treated in Nitra and then underwent emergency surgery in Bratislava. The other three students were also injured and taken to hospital. Police arrived, secured the scene and began a search for the perpetrators, but no arrests have been reported. The incident is recorded as a misdemeanor against public order, with the possibility of escalation to criminal charges if new evidence emerges. Similar attacks on foreign students have been reported in Nitra in previous years.

"Môj kamarát mi vtedy potichu povedal, že tí chalani si nasadzujú masky," Thayyib told TV JOJ, describing how the masked men turned violent after learning the victims' nationality.