Third suspect detained over Taylor Swift Vienna concert plot

From the Austrian edition of The Local

Austria on Friday said it had detained a third alleged Islamic State sympathiser over a plot to carry out a suicide attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna.

On Friday, Interior Ministry Gerhard Karner said that “an 18-year-old Iraqi close to the main suspect and who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group was arrested” in the Austrian capital on Thursday. Mr Karner said the third teenager is “not directly connected to the attack plans” but comes from the same social circle as the main suspect.

Conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer said there were “concrete and detailed” plans to commit a “blood bath”.

The Austrian army’s intelligence service was warned of a looming attack 10 to 15 days prior by two unspecified countries that helped it foil the plot, according to news agency APA.

Swift has not yet commented on the decision to cancel the Vienna shows but said she was “completely in shock” after a deadly attack in Britain on July 29 at a Swift-themed dance class. Three girls were killed and five people seriously wounded in the mass stabbing at the class in Southport, England.