VIENNA: The principle suspect in a planned attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Austria had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group and had chemical substances at his house, authorities mentioned.
The 19-year-old, with North Macedonian roots, labored with one other 17-year-old Austrian male and is amongst three individuals detained after the plot was introduced late on Wednesday (Aug 7), to the shock of “Swiftie” followers globally.
Austria’s basic director for public safety Frankz Ruf advised ORF radio on Thursday that chemical substances and technical gadgets, displaying “concrete preparatory actions”, had been discovered on the 19-year-old’s home within the city of Ternitz.
He had sworn allegiance to Islamic State’s chief, he added, citing web proof.
Swift’s three concert events in Vienna, anticipated to attract 195,000 individuals, had been cancelled.
“It is simply heartbreaking, simply irritating. However on the finish of the day I assume it is for everybody’s security,” mentioned Mark del Rosario, who had flown from the Philippines for the present.
The Kurier newspaper, citing sources aware of the scenario, reported that the suspect had stolen the chemical substances from his former office, a steel processing firm additionally in Ternitz, and had made progress in constructing a bomb.
The newspaper reported that he had deliberate to drive a automotive into the group anticipated to assemble outdoors the stadium, and had additionally thought of utilizing machetes and knives.
Austria’s inside ministry and intelligence service weren’t instantly accessible for touch upon the report’s particulars, and Reuters was unable to confirm it.
The case has illustrated dangers to stadium exhibits, music festivals and different massive gatherings, with the deliberate assault echoing a foiled plot by three Islamic State-linked suspects in opposition to Vienna’s homosexual satisfaction parade final yr.
Authorities have revamped their nationwide safety intelligence within the wake of a 2020 assault by a convicted jihadist within the centre of Vienna that left 4 useless, the primary such militant assault within the Austrian capital in a era.
