Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said Thursday that a tragedy had been averted at Taylor Swift’s concert in Vienna, scheduled from today until Saturday, given that the 19-year-old man arrested the day before was considering attacking concert-goers with knives or using an explosive and possibly immolating himself. The situation, according to the minister, “was serious and remains serious.” The young man arrested in Ternitz, a town located in the state of Lower Austria, about 65 kilometers from Vienna, has confessed his plans for a jihadist attack and material and chemical substances for explosives, whose manufacture was already advanced, were found in his home.
Police also arrested a 17-year-old boy in Vienna on Wednesday near the Ernst Happel stadium, where the American singer’s concerts were to be held, cancelled last night after the arrests became known. He had found a job in one of the companies that were to provide services for the mega-event. He has so far refused to make a statement. Investigators are also questioning a 15-year-old boy who knew one of the detainees and allegedly had information about his plans.
The prime suspect had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) and recorded a video about his planned attack – this Thursday or Friday – which he later deleted, but has since been recovered by investigators.
Police are not currently looking for any other suspects, but are continuing to investigate the surroundings of those arrested to find out if there were any other people who knew about the thwarted attack.
The cancelled concerts were expected to be attended by around 195,000 people. According to the investigation, the 19-year-old, an Austrian with a family with roots in North Macedonia, had left his job on 25 July and had said at the time that he still had “big plans for the future”, according to Franz Ruf, Director General of Public Security. He then focused on acquiring the knowledge and material to make explosives and “changed his appearance”. Various substances were found in the searches, including hydrogen peroxide, as well as technical devices and materials for making bombs, such as detonators, cables and machines to start an explosion. According to the police, the seized material also includes a police siren, which is suspected to have been used to clear a path and facilitate access to the scene of the attack or escape.
The 17-year-old suspect, also Austrian with Turkish and Croatian origins, was known to the police, although the Austrian authorities have not provided any details, except that he had left his girlfriend, which for investigators shows that the suspects were cutting ties with their entourage.
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The head of the German intelligence service (DSN), Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, confirmed that the investigation was based on information from foreign secret services and said that the young men, especially the 19-year-old, had become radicalised online. “He consumed and spread a lot of propaganda, and as we saw after the seizure of his mobile phone yesterday, he also constantly downloaded and shared instructions for bomb-making,” he explained. “He had been informed about bomb-making and the necessary materials, and during the search of his home a lot of material was found,” he added.
The 19-year-old jihadist’s confession indicates that, in addition to the explosives, they intended to attack Swift’s fans outside the stadium where the concert was to be held with knives. The objective, according to Haijawi-Pirchner, was “to kill himself and a large crowd at the concert today or tomorrow.” The DSN director indicated that although there are no other suspects on the run, it is possible that people in the detainees’ entourage knew of their plans and further investigation is necessary.
The Interior Minister has stressed the key role played by the intelligence services in the operation to thwart the attack. The investigation was based on initial information on the main suspect provided by an intelligence service from a country that has not been revealed.
Karner has highlighted the increased threat of jihadist terrorism since Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October, and the fact that large concerts are often targeted by terrorist groups. In this context, he has mentioned the attack on the Bataclan concert hall in Paris in 2015, the attack on Ariana Grande’s performance in Manchester in 2017, the attack on the Moscow concert hall last March and, surprisingly, he has lumped together the knife attack by a British minor at a children’s event in the United Kingdom, in which three girls died and which has led to violent anti-immigration demonstrations and threats against mosques based on hoaxes on social media claiming that he is Syrian.
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