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US singer and songwriter Taylor Swift performs on stage at the Paris La Defense Arena as part of her The Eras Tour, in Nanterre, France. Julien de Rosa, AFP

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Taylor

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17231627790201715314405079taylorswift--05102024.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">US singer and songwriter Taylor Swift performs on stage at the Paris La Defense Arena as part of her The Eras Tour, in Nanterre, France. <em style="text-align:left">Julien de Rosa, AFP</em></span></span></span></div><p>VIENNA, Austria — A 19-year-old Islamic State sympathizer planned a deadly suicide attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, the country&#x27;s intelligence agency said on Thursday.</p><div><ivs-player data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-vid="3065338"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script></div><p>Austrian authorities detained two suspects Wednesday for allegedly plotting to attack one of three Vienna concerts by the US star, which had been due to start Thursday.</p><p>All three dates were canceled on Wednesday, leaving disconsolate &quot;Swifties&quot; to gather in the Austrian capital.</p><p>The 19-year-old main suspect had confessed, saying he &quot;intended to carry out an attack using explosives and knives&quot;, domestic intelligence agency (DSN) head Omar Haijawi-Pirchner told journalists.</p><p>&quot;His aim was to kill himself and a large number of people during the concert, either today or tomorrow,&quot; he added. The concerts had been to run from Thursday to Saturday.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/2024/5/10/taylor-swift-fever-grips-paris-at-start-of-europe-tour-1141">• Taylor Swift fever grips Paris at start of Europe tour</a></div><p>A second suspect, a 17-year-old Austrian, was employed at a facility management company that would have &quot;provided services&quot; at the Ernst Happel Stadium where Swift was to perform, said Haijawi-Pirchner.</p><p>The younger suspect, who has so far refused to talk to authorities, was &quot;in the area&quot; of the stadium when he was detained, said Haijawi-Pirchner.</p><p>Chancellor Karl Nehammer said there were &quot;concrete and detailed&quot; plans to commit a &quot;blood bath&quot;.</p><p>Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said a &quot;tragedy was averted&quot;.</p><p>&quot;The situation was very serious&quot;, he added, particularly in view of last week&#x27;s attack at a Taylor Swift themed event in Britain, where three girls were killed.</p><p>Explosives and detonators were found in a search of the main suspect&#x27;s apartment, authorities said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Disappointed Swifties</strong></div><p>Austria&#x27;s top security chief Franz Ruf told reporters the two suspects had recently made changes in their private lives.</p><p>The main suspect, an Austrian with Northern Macedonian roots, had changed &quot;his appearance and adapted it to Islamic State propaganda&quot;, while the second, an Austrian of Turkish or Croatian origin, had broken up with his girlfriend, he said.</p><p>Ruf earlier confirmed that authorities had received information &quot;from foreign partners&quot; which led to the arrests, but he declined to specify which.</p><p>In Washington, a State Department spokesman declined to comment on whether US intelligence had helped foil the plot.</p><p>&quot;We are in touch with the Austrian government about this,&quot; said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.</p><p>&quot;They&#x27;ve said it&#x27;s an ongoing investigation, so I will leave it to them to speak to the details.</p><p>Austrian police had promised to ramp up security for the concerts while playing down any concrete danger, but organizers still cancelled Swift&#x27;s shows, which had each been expected to welcome 65,000 fans.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/2024/8/8/taylor-swift-s-vienna-shows-cancelled-after-is-sympathiser-arrest-910">• Pinoy fan devastated after Taylor Swift&#x27;s Vienna concerts canceled</a></div><p>Swift&#x27;s fans gathered in parks and plazas across Vienna to share their disappointment. Dilyara Joldassova, a 23-year-old engineer who travelled from Kazakhstan for the show, said she was &quot;broken-hearted&quot;.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Major world tour</strong></div><p>Swift did not immediately comment on the decision to cancel the Vienna shows but after last week&#x27;s attack in Britain attack said she was &quot;completely in shock&quot;.</p><p>Three girls were killed and five people seriously wounded in the mass stabbing at a Swift-themed dance class in Southport, England.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/8/1/17-year-old-charged-with-murder-of-3-girls-in-uk-knife-attack-915">• 17-year-old charged with murder of 3 girls in UK knife attack</a></div><p>According to Ruf, police &quot;did everything humanly possible to ensure&quot; that the Vienna concerts &quot;could go ahead&quot;, but the cancellation decision was taken by the organizers.</p><p>The 34-year-old star had been due to bring her record-breaking &quot;Eras&quot; Tour, which began its European leg in Paris in May, to Vienna.</p><p>From France, the tour has visited Sweden, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Poland.</p><p>In Austria, the shows had been expected to bring in some 100 million euros, according to estimates by the Austrian news agency APA.</p><p>&quot;Eras&quot; is already the first tour to sell more than $1 billion in tickets and is on track to more than double that by the time it concludes in Vancouver in December.</p><p>Austria experienced its first deadly jihadist attack in November 2020, when a IS sympathizer went on a shooting rampage in Vienna, killing four people and wounding 23 before police shot him dead.</p><div><strong>— By Blaise Gauquelin, Anne Beade and Kiyoko Metzler, Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6snM2dsrq1U?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p> A 19-year-old Islamic State sympathizer planned a deadly suicide attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, the country's intelligence agency said on Thursday.</p>

A 19-year-old Islamic State sympathizer planned a deadly suicide attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, the country's intelligence agency said on Thursday.

IS suspect planned suicide attack at Taylor Swift Vienna concert

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IS suspect planned suicide attack at Taylor Swift Vienna concert

Agence France-Presse

Published August 09, 2024 08:45 AM PHT

|

Updated April 29, 2026 12:35 AM PHT

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Vienna

Austria

terrorism

IS

crime

suicide attack

intelligence

music

concert

Taylor Swift

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