The CIA has revealed the suspects arrested for a foiled terror plot against Taylor Swift’s Vienna show planned to kill tens of thousands of fans. Deputy Director David Cohen said the agency, in collaboration with intelligence community partners, provided crucial information to Austrian authorities about an ISIS-connected group’s plans to attack Swift’s concerts.
“They were plotting to kill a huge number — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including, I am sure, many Americans — and were quite advanced in this,” Cohen said.
The plot aimed to cause mass casualties both inside and outside the stadium. Up to 95,000 people were expected to gather.
Austrian officials arrested three individuals: a 19-year-old Austrian main suspect, a 17-year-old Austrian, and an 18-year-old Iraqi. At least one suspect confessed to intending to kill “as many people as possible.”
During a raid on the main suspect’s home, authorities uncovered chemical substances, technical devices, bomb-making manuals, homemade explosives, detonators, and hydrogen peroxide.
The foiled plot led to the cancellation of Swift’s Vienna concerts in early August.
Swift broke her silence on the cancellations, expressing a complex mix of emotions including fear, guilt and also gratitude toward authorities.
She wrote on Instagram that, because of authorities “we were grieving concerts and not lives.”
Cohen did not specify how the CIA found out about the planned attack.
