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Authorities in Austria have arrested a 19-year-old suspected Islamic State sympathizer accused of plotting a suicide attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, the country’s intelligence agency reported on Thursday.
The head of Austria’s domestic intelligence service (DSN), Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, stated at a news conference that the suspect planned to use explosives and knives to carry out the attack.
Following this potential threat, the BBC reported that three Taylor Swift concerts scheduled in Vienna as part of her Eras tour have been canceled.
The concerts were set to take place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the Ernst Happel Stadium.
Concert organizers released a statement saying, “Due to confirmation by government officials of a planned terrorist attack at the Ernst Happel Stadium, we have no choice but to cancel the three planned shows for everyone’s safety.
“All tickets will be automatically refunded within the next 10 working days.”
Austria’s General Director for Public Security, Franz Ruf, had earlier announced that the 19-year-old suspect was arrested on Wednesday morning in Ternitz, located in Lower Austria.
A second suspect was detained in Vienna later that day, though no additional details about this individual were provided.
“According to the current status of the investigation, the two suspects became radicalised via the internet,” Ruf explained.
Vienna’s police chief, Gerhard Pürstl, revealed that each concert was expected to attract 65,000 attendees, with an additional 22,000 fans gathering outside the venue.
The suspect’s plan, according to authorities, was to cause mass casualties, including himself, during the concerts.
The term “IS” refers to the Islamic State, a militant group that originated as an offshoot of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and gained notoriety during the Syrian Civil War. The group is also known as ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) or ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant).
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