(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Two men were arrested for allegedly planning a terrorist attack at Taylor Swift’s concert in Vienna, in what authorities described as a foiled large-scale attack that saved hundreds of lives.
Austrian authorities did not name the suspects but stated that both had been radicalized online by ISIS-K, a branch of the Islamic State based in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“The suspects actually had very specific and detailed plans to cause a tragedy on the scale of Paris, Manchester or Moscow,” Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said in a press conference on Thursday, according to The New York Times.
The men aimed to leave a “trail of blood” at the now-canceled Swift concerts. Swift scheduled three concerts as part of her Eras Tour, with over 200,000 attendees expected. Many of them were believed to be children.
One of the suspects, a 19-year-old, had been radicalized online and had sworn allegiance to ISIS-K, which seeks to establish a caliphate in South and Central Asia. He is now in custody and has allegedly confessed to the plot.
Authorities found machetes, knives, explosives, timers and chemicals in his Vienna home, all intended for use in bomb-making. The man allegedly planned to use a fake police siren to gain access to the concert as he did not hold tickets.
The second suspect, aged 17, was previously known to law enforcement. He had secured a job at the venue where Swift was scheduled to perform. A third individual, a 15-year-old, is believed to have had knowledge of the plot but was not part of it.
According to reports, U.S. intelligence officials alerted Austrian authorities to the plot. Austrian intelligence official Omar Haijawi-Pirchner acknowledged that authorities had become aware of the threat but did not immediately credit U.S. intelligence for the foiled attack.
Swift is one of the most popular musicians in 2024. Her Eras Tour, which combines themes from her past albums, has been nearly sold out worldwide.
ISIS-K, which emerged in 2015 after a split from Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, is the group that claimed responsibility for the 2021 terrorist attack in Kabul, Afghanistan that left 13 U.S. servicemen dead and 170 Afghan civilians.
