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Austrian authorities said on August 8 that two suspects in the attack on Taylor Swift’s Vienna concert appeared to be inspired by the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, and investigators found bomb-making materials in the home of one of them. Officials said one of them admitted to planning to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert.”
The announcement came a day after three sold-out concerts were cancelled over the conspiracy, devastating Swifties around the world, many of whom had spent thousands of euros on travel and accommodation in Austria’s expensive capital to attend the Eras Tour show at the Ernst Happel Stadium, which sat empty on August 8 as media filmed outside.
Concert organizers said they stood by their decision and said they expected up to 65,000 people to attend each concert, with up to 30,000 onlookers outside the concert venues, where authorities said the suspects planned to carry out the attacks.
Officials told reporters that the main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian, began planning the attack in July and uploaded a pledge of allegiance to the current leader of the Islamic State on the Internet a few weeks ago. He planned to use knives or homemade explosives.
“He wanted to carry out an attack in the area outside the stadium, killing as many people as possible with knives or even with explosive devices he made himself,” said Omar Khayjawi-Pirshina, director of the National Security Intelligence Service, citing the 19-year-old’s confession.
Mr Hejawi-Pirchner added that he was “clearly inclined towards ISIS and believed it was right to kill infidels”.
The 19-year-old resigned on July 25, saying he had “big plans yet.”
According to Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, the attempted attack was originally planned for August 8 or 9.
He said neither suspect appeared to have tickets to any of the shows.
Franz Ruff, head of the Interior Ministry’s Public Security Bureau, said that during a raid on the main suspect’s home in Ternitz, south of Vienna, investigators found chemical substances and technical equipment indicating “concrete acts of preparation.”
Authorities said they also found Islamic State and al-Qaida material in the home of a second suspect, a 17-year-old Austrian who was arrested by SWAT near the stadium days earlier while employed by a company that provides services to concert venues.
The 17-year-old, who is of Turkish and Croatian descent and has so far refused to comment on the allegations, had recently broken up with his girlfriend, officials said, adding that both suspects had recently undergone noticeable social changes.
The two teenagers were arrested on August 6. Neither has been named in accordance with Austrian privacy rules.
Interior Minister Karner said Austrian intelligence agencies worked closely with foreign intelligence services to catch the teens. He did not identify the agencies but added that Austria needed the help because, unlike some foreign agencies, Austrian investigators could not legally monitor text messages.
Mr Khanna said police were not looking for other suspects, but a 15-year-old boy who had contact with the two suspects was also being questioned by police.
“The situation is serious. But we can also say: a tragedy was prevented,” he said.
Concert organizer Barracuda Music posted a message on Instagram on the evening of August 7, saying that “for everyone’s safety, they have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled performances.”
Barracuda said all tickets would be refunded, a message also posted on Swift’s official website under the Vienna concert date. Meanwhile, Austrian railway operator OeBB said it would refund fans for purchased but unused train tickets to the concert.
Swift has not spoken publicly about the plans or the canceled shows. Taylor Nation, a verified Instagram page widely believed to be run by Swift’s team, reposted the Barracuda Music announcement in a Stories post that only stayed visible for 24 hours. Her main account did not post anything.
Last month, an attacker in the UK stabbed three girls to death and injured 10 others during a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga class. Swift said at the time that she was “completely shocked” by the attack.
Europeans were so obsessed with the American superstar that the German town of Gelsenkirchen renamed itself “Swiftkirchen” ahead of the concert in mid-July.
Austrian Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler wrote on social media platform X: “For many people, a dream was shattered today. For three nights in Vienna, tens of thousands of #Swifties should have celebrated life together.”
Mr Kogler added: “I’m so sorry you were rejected. Swifties are united and hate and terror can’t destroy that.”
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer posted on X that “the cancellation of Taylor Swift’s concert is a huge disappointment to all Austrian fans.”
“The situation regarding this clearly premeditated terrorist attack in Vienna is extremely serious,” he wrote. But he added that thanks to cooperation between police and Austrian and foreign intelligence agencies, “the threat was detected early, addressed and the tragedy prevented.”
The originally scheduled concert at the Vienna Arena, which was expected to draw about 170,000 fans, has sold out, according to the Austrian news agency APA. Some people who posted on X lamented that their months of hard work making friendship bracelets and picking out stylish outfits for the show were now in vain.
Swift is scheduled to perform five concerts at London’s Wembley Stadium from August 15 to 20 as the closing act of the European leg of her record-breaking “Times Tour.”
In 2017, an attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, killed 22 people. Suicide bomber Salman Abedi set a backpack bomb at the Manchester Arena as thousands of young fans were leaving after Grande’s concert. More than 100 people were injured. Mr Abedi was killed in the explosion.
Swift’s biggest concern has always been that such a large-scale violence could happen at her concerts, the superstar told Elle magazine ahead of her 2019 Lover Tour, which was ultimately canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The attack at Grande’s concert, as well as the 2017 mass shooting outdoors at a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip that left 58 people dead and 850 injured, worried Swift as she prepared to tour the world.
“I was totally daunted to do it this time (the ‘Lover Tour’) because I didn’t know how we were going to keep three million fans safe over seven months,” she told the magazine. “We put a lot of planning, money and effort into keeping our fans safe.”
An official inquiry in 2023 said MI5, Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, did not act quickly enough on key information and missed a vital opportunity to prevent the Manchester bombing, the deadliest extremist attack in Britain in recent years.
Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert at the Swedish Defense University in Stockholm, told The Associated Press by telephone that any large public event now posed a potential threat, noting that concerts like Ms. Grande’s had already been targeted.
“So we shouldn’t be surprised that these extremely popular, iconic pop stars who draw huge crowds also attract terrorists who want to create fear, destruction and chaos, who target these concerts symbolically and culturally. In a way, Taylor Swift — and all these Swift fans — culturally and symbolically represent America. She’s an American artist with a huge fan base.”
This report was provided by The Associated Press. Ms. Dazio and Ms. Grishaber reported from Berlin. Associated Press writers Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this report.
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