Austrian official: IS supporter planned suicide attack at Taylor Swift show
Suspect confessed to terror plot, ‘thinks it is right to kill infidels’; jihadi material found at home of 2nd suspect, who was employed at venue days before now-canceled concerts
A 19-year-old Islamic State sympathizer arrested in Austria was planning a suicide attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna designed to kill many people, an intelligence agency said on Thursday.
“He said he intended to carry out an attack using explosives and knives,” domestic intelligence agency head Omar Haijawi-Pirchner told a news conference. “His aim was to kill himself and a large number of people during the concert, either today or tomorrow.”
The Associated Press said the suspect is an Austrian with North Macedonian roots.
Meanwhile, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said Thursday that authorities found Islamic State and al-Qaeda material at the home of the second suspect, a 17-year-old Austrian citizen with Turkish and Croatian roots.
“The situation was serious, the situation is serious. But we can also say: A tragedy was prevented,” he said.
Austrian security authorities said the second suspect was arrested by special police forces near the stadium where the concerts were supposed to take place this week. He was employed a few days ago by a facility company providing services at the venue during the concerts.
No other suspects are being sought after the two were arrested. The suspects’ names were not released in line with Austrian privacy rules.
Austrian security officials told reporters at a press conference in Vienna that the 19-year-old, who is the main suspect, fully confessed his attack plans. They said he was “clearly radicalized in the direction of the Islamic State and thinks it is right to kill infidels.”
The cancellations of three sold-out concerts this week devastated Swifties across the globe, many of whom had dropped thousands of euros on travel and lodging in Austria’s expensive capital city for the sold-out Eras Tour shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Ernst Happel Stadium, which sat empty Thursday morning aside from media filming outside.
Europe is enamored by the American superstar, with the German town of Gelsenkirchen renaming itself “Swiftkirchen” before its mid-July concerts.
Austria’s Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler wrote on social platform X: “For many, a dream has been shattered today. On three evenings in Vienna, tens of thousands of #Swifties should have celebrated life together.”
“I am very sorry that you were denied this. Swifties stick together, hate and terror can’t destroy that,” Kogler wrote late Wednesday.
