ISIS plot planned to kill 'tens of thousands' at Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, says CIA

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has said the ISIS-inspired terrorist plot foiled this month planned to kill “tens of thousands” at Taylor Swift’s concerts in Austrian capital Vienna.

Earlier this month, the organisers announced that Swift’s three concerts at Vienna were cancelled due to terrorist threats. Around the same time, the authorities announced that two people suspects were arrested in connection with the threats. Later, a third person was also arrested.

Speaking at the Intelligence and National Security Summit, CIA Deputy Director David S Cohen said that the agency had provided information about four people connected to the ISIS who were planning to attack Swift’s concert. He further said they planned to kill “tens of thousands” of people.

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“They were plotting to kill a huge number, tens of thousands of people at this concert, I am sure many Americans. 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,” said Cohen, according to The New York Times.

Around 200,000 people were expected to attend Swift’s concerts in Vienna, as per the newspaper.

While Cohen did not say how the CIA learnt about the plot, he said there was no doubt that attacking Swift’s Eras Tour concerts and killing a large number of people at the concerts was the goal of the plot.

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‘Suspects had detailed plans for attack’

Following the initial arrest of two suspects in the case, the Austrian government said they had access to the venue and had very detailed plans for the attack.

“The suspects actually had very specific and detailed plans to cause a tragedy on the scale of Paris, Manchester or Moscow,” said Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, adding that they wanted to leave a “trail of blood”.

Separately, The Times reported that some of those arrested in the case were found with bomb-making material and had access to the concert venue.

The newspaper reported the police as saying that the main suspect is a 19-year-old Austrian citizen of North Macedonian descent who had radicalised himself online and sworn allegiance to the terrorist group ISIS.