Teen planned ‘explosives and knives’ attack at Swift concert

Austrian security officials say a 19-year-old arrested on Wednesday was planning to kill “a large crowd of people” in a suicide attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna.

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Officials say the teen – who had previously pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group (IS) – confessed that he “intended to carry out an attack using explosives and knives”.

Swift’s three sold-out shows at the Ernst Happel Stadium have been cancelled. More than 195,000 people had been expected to attend.

Local media have also reported that the 19-year-old, the main suspect out of three, had stolen chemicals from his former workplace.

The Kurier newspaper, citing sources, reported that he used to work at a metal processing company in his home town of Ternitz, and that he had made progress in building a bomb.

The outlet also reported that he had planned to drive a car into the crowd expected to gather outside the stadium.

Security officials at a news conference on Thursday did not comment on where he got the chemicals, but public security chief Franz Ruf told reporters that chemical substances and technical devices found at the main suspect’s house showed “concrete preparatory actions”.

The head of Austria’s Directorate for Protection of the State and Intelligence (DSN) Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, said weapons were seized from the main suspect’s house, and that “his aim was to kill himself and a large crowd of people either today or tomorrow at the concert”.

Mr Ruf added the teen had posted a video online confessing to the plot, quit his job at the end of last month and told people that he had “big plans”.