Austrian authorities claimed on Thursday that an Austrian teenager who was detained in connection with a suspected plot to assault a Taylor Swift performance in Vienna intended to carry out a suicide attack that would have resulted in a “bloodbath” and had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS).
The 19-year-old North Macedonian man confessed completely in custody, said Austria’s general director for public security, Franz Ruf, while in a news conference.
Ruf continued that he had chemicals, machetes, and technical devices at his home in the town of Ternitz in preparation for an attack and had sworn allegiance to the leader of the IS group on the internet.
According to the chief of national intelligence, Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, the suspect was preparing a deadly attack on the 20,000 or so “Swiftie” fans that were expected to assemble outside Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium. Due to the alleged plot, two further Austrian adolescents, ages 17 and 15, were placed under arrest on Wednesday.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said, “The main perpetrator has confessed that he was supposed to carry out a suicide attack with two accomplices.”
“The suspects actually had very specific and detailed plans … to leave a bloodbath in their wake.” Authorities painted a picture of the main suspect having self-radicalised, transforming his appearance and sharing Islamist propaganda online. He quit his job on July 25, telling people he had “big plans”, Ruf said.
The suspect had grown a “Taliban beard” and kept himself to himself, according to a neighbor who spoke to Austrian television Puls24.
Security officials claim that the 17-year-old suspect was hired a few days ago by a company that provided services at the stadium.
In consultation with Swift’s management team, event organizer Barracuda Music announced that it has canceled the singer’s three scheduled shows in Vienna, which were scheduled to begin on Thursday and draw a combined 65,000 fans each.
Supporters, many of whom had traveled far to Vienna, voiced their sympathy as well as their dismay.
