Terrorists sought to kill 'tens of thousands' at Taylor's concert
A planned terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, Austria earlier this month, aimed to kill "tens of thousands of people," including Americans, according to David S. Cohen, Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The plot was foiled earlier this month, leading to the cancelation of all of Swift's scheduled shows in Vienna. Per reports, 200K people were expected to attend Swift's Vienna shows. Meanwhile, the Austrian authorities have since arrested three individuals.
'They were plotting to kill a huge number...'
Speaking at the annual Intelligence Summit, Cohen revealed that the thwarted attack aimed to kill a large number of people. "They were plotting to kill a huge number, tens of thousands of people at this concert, I am sure many Americans," Cohen said, as reported by The New York Times. "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."
Three arrested in connection with the plot
The Austrian authorities have arrested three individuals: a 19-year-old Austrian, a 17-year-old Austrian, and an 18-year-old Iraqi. One of the suspects was found with bomb-making material. The authorities said that the plot was inspired by the Islamic State group. Cohen did not disclose how the CIA learned of the planned attack. Earlier, the head of Austria's Directorate of State Security and Intelligence disclosed that one of the detained suspects confessed to planning "to carry out an attack" using knives.
'We were grieving concerts and not lives': Swift
Following the cancelation of her shows, Swift took to Instagram to express her feelings. "Having our Vienna shows canceled was devastating," she wrote. "The reason for the cancelations 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." "But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives," Swift added.
