IS suspect planned suicide attack at Taylor Swift Vienna concert: officials

Vienna, Austria – AFP

A 19-year-old alleged Islamic State sympathiser planned a suicide attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna designed to kill many people, the country’s intelligence agency claimed on Thursday.

Austrian authorities detained two suspects Wednesday for allegedly plotting to attack this week’s Vienna concerts by the US star, which organisers cancelled at the last minute.

The 19-year-old main suspect had confessed, saying he “intended to carry out an attack using explosives and knives,” domestic intelligence agency (DSN) 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,” he added. The concerts were to run from Thursday to Saturday.

The second suspect, a 17-year-old Austrian, was employed at a facility management company which would have “provided services” at the Ernst Happel Stadium where Swift was to perform, said Haijawi-Pirchner.

The younger suspect, who has so far refused to talk to authorities, was “in the area” of the stadium where he was detained, said Haijawi-Pirchner.

According to Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, a “tragedy was averted”.  “The situation was very serious”, he added, particularly in view of a recent attack at a Taylor Swift themed event in Britain, where three girls were killed in Great Britain.

Explosives and detonators were found in a search of the main suspect’s apartment, authorities said.

Austria’s top security chief Franz Ruf told reporters the two suspects had recently made changes in their private lives,

The main suspect, an Austrian with Northern Macedonian roots, had changed “his appearance and adapted it to Islamic State propaganda”, while the second, an Austrian of Turkish or Croatian origin, had broken up with his girlfriend, he said.

Ruf earlier confirmed that authorities had received information “from foreign partners” which led to the arrests, but he declined to specify.

Police had promised to ramp up security for the concerts while having minimised any concrete danger, but organisers still cancelled Swift’s shows. About 65,000 people were expected at each show.