Although the cancellation of the shows felt like a break-up to the fans, ISIS plotted to target ‘tens of thousands’ at the Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, according to CIA.
Earlier this month, the organizers had canceled three shows of Taylor Swift in Vienna, Austria due to serious terrorist threats. Two suspects were arrested around the same time of being accused of being linked with the terrorist threats which was followed by the arrest of a third individual. According to the CIA, the recently thwarted ISIS-inspired terrorist attack had aimed to kill ‘tens of thousands’ at the concert in Vienna, Austria. Adding to that Mr. Cohen said, ‘They were plotting to kill a huge number – tens of thousands of people at this concert, including I am sure many Americans – and were quite advanced in this.’ About the third suspect, Austrian security officials have said that an 18-year-old boy was planning to kill a large number of crowds of people in a suicide attack at the concert.
According to the officials, the young boy had confessed that he ‘intended to carry out an attack using explosives and knives.’ He was arrested on Thursday, one day after the arrest of the first two suspects one of which is a young boy of 19 years. According to the local media reports, the young boy had stolen chemicals from his former workplace. Newspapers cite sources saying that he used to work at a metal processing company in his hometown of Ternitz and had made progress in building a bomb. Although the security officials said nothing in the news conference about the source of the chemicals found security chief Franz Ruf has said that the chemicals found at the house of the suspect showed ‘concrete preparatory actions’.
The chief of security also added that the suspect had posted a video on the internet confessing to the plot, quit his job at the end of last month, and told people that he had ‘big plans’. Even though Mr. Cohen said, ‘The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do.’ But the suspect’s lawyer claimed that the Austrian authorities were ‘presenting this exaggeratedly’ in order to get new surveillance powers.
The U.S singer broke the silence regarding the cancellation of her three major shows that were supposed to be held in Vienna saying, ‘Having our Vienna shows canceled was devastating, The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.’ She thanked the authorities by saying, ‘Thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives.’
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