An Iraqi 18-year-old who “took an oath of allegiance” to the Islamic State terrorist group just days ago is now the third suspect to be arrested in connection to a foiled plot to attack now-canceled Taylor Swift concerts in Austria, officials say.
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said the individual “comes from the social environment” of the 19-year-old main suspect – an Austrian with North Macedonian roots who allegedly had bomb-making materials, chemical substances and technical devices at his home. Officials say that suspect confessed to planning to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue” where the sold-out Eras Tour shows were to be held this week, using knives or homemade explosives.
“He had been in contact with the main perpetrator, but is not directly connected to the attack plans,” Karner was quoted by The Associated Press as saying on Friday. “But, as was found out a few days ago, he took an oath of allegiance specifically to ISIS on Aug. 6.”
The arrest of the latest suspect – which Reuters cited the interior ministry as identifying as an Iraqi national – happened in Vienna on Thursday night. A 17-year-old has also been arrested as part of the investigation, while a 15-year-old has been interrogated but not named a suspect.
Taylor Swift performs in Munich, Germany, on July 27. (Thomas Niedermueller/TAS24/Getty Images)
The 19-year-old main suspect was “clearly radicalized in the direction of the Islamic State and thinks it is right to kill infidels,” Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, the head of the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence, said on Thursday.
Authorities are now scrutinizing the “networks” of the suspects, the Austrian interior ministry told the AP on Friday, adding in a statement that investigators have turned to evaluating physical and electronic evidence.
Taylor Swift fans, known as “Swifties,” sing and dance in Vienna on Friday, Aug. 9, despite the cancelation of the Eras Tour concerts. (AP/Heinz-Peter Bader)
Swift had concerts set for Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week at Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna.
Concert organizers in Austria said they had expected up to 65,000 fans inside the stadium at each concert and as many as 30,000 onlookers outside, where authorities said the suspects planned to strike. The foiled attack was planned for Thursday or Friday, according to Karner.
SECURITY EXPERTS ON WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT TAYLOR SWIFT’S NEXT SHOWS AFTER FOILED PLOT
A screen displays a photo of a man arrested in connection with an alleged terrorist plot targeting Taylor Swift concerts this week in Vienna, Austria, that have now been postponed. (Roland Schlager/APA/AFP via Getty Images)
The trio of shows were abruptly canceled on Wednesday as news of the alleged terrorist plot emerged.
A series of five concerts starting next Thursday at London’s Wembley Stadium, however, are going on as planned.
Police cars are seen parked outside Ernst Happel Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 8 in Vienna, Austria. Three nights of Taylor Swift concerts, which were meant to take place here Thursday, Friday and Saturday, were canceled after Austrian law enforcement announced it had foiled a suspected attack on the venue. (Thomas Kronsteiner/Getty Images)
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Swift, as of Friday morning, has not commented on the alleged foiled terrorist plot.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
