Taylor Swift shows in Vienna cancelled over planned terror attack

Vienna: Austrian security officials said Thursday that the main suspect of the two arrested in a foiled plot to attack now-cancelled Taylor Swift shows in Vienna fully confessed to his plans to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue”.

Officials told reporters at a press conference in the Austrian capital that they found ties to the Islamic State group, and when the 19-year-old began working on his attack plans in July, he quit his regular job and “conspicuously changed his appearance and adapted to IS propaganda”.

The head of the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence, Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, said the 19-year-old wanted to use knives or self-made explosives outside the Ernst Happel Stadium to kill as many people as possible.

He was “clearly radicalised in the direction of the Islamic State and thinks it is right to kill infidels,” Haijawi-Pirchner said.

Just a few weeks ago, the 19-year-old had also uploaded an oath of allegiance to the current leader of the Islamic State group militia to an internet account. During a raid of his home in Ternitz, south of Vienna, investigators found chemical substances and technical devices that indicated “concrete preparatory acts,” said Franz Ruf, Director General for Public Security at the Ministry of the Interior.

Authorities also found Islamic State group and al-Qaida material at the home of the second suspect, a 17-year-old Austrian. He was employed a few days ago by a company providing services at the venue for the concerts, and was arrested by special police forces near the stadium.

The suspects’ names were not released in line with Austrian privacy rules.

No other suspects are being sought, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said. However, a 15-year-old, who had been in contact with both suspects, was also interrogated by police.

“The situation was serious, the situation is serious. But we can also say: A tragedy was prevented,” he said. The cancellations of three sold-out concerts this week devastated Swifties across the globe, many of whom had dropped thousands of euros (dollars) 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.