A 19-year-old Austrian teenager with North Macedonian roots planned to kill « as many people as possible » with knives and explosives, officials said.
Austrian officials said they arrested three male teenagers on Wednesday on suspicion of planning an attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, the threat of which prompted organizers to cancel three of the singer’s shows.
The main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian citizen, was arrested in the town of Ternitz, about 30 miles from Vienna, said the head of the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence, Omar Haijawi-Pirchner.
Haijawi-Pirchner said at a news conference on Thursday that the suspect was planning a suicide attack with knives and explosives that would kill « as many people as possible » at the concert.
Officials said they found explosives, detonators, and chemicals in the 19-year-old’s home, and that he’d been researching bomb-making techniques.
The young man was « clearly radicalized » by the Islamic State and had posted an oath of allegiance to the terrorist organization’s leader, Haijawai-Pirchner said.
He is cooperating with authorities and fully admitted to the plot, Haijawi-Pirchner added.
