A 19-year-old and a 17-year-old are suspected of the planned attack.
With the help of knives and homemade explosives, the teenagers planned to attack one of the three concerts to be held in the capital Vienna at the end of the week. Authorities in Austria report that the main suspect, the 19-year-old, has admitted to planning to "kill as many people as possible" in what the security service describes as a suicide attack in connection with the sold-out arena.
The police have found chemical substances, possibly linked to bomb-making, during a house search at the Austrian citizen's home. According to the police, "specific preparatory measures" were taken to target Swift's concerts.
The second suspect, a 17-year-old boy, started working at the arena just days before the concerts were to take place and was arrested near his workplace.
Sworn allegiance to IS
The two teenagers are suspected of having been radicalized via the internet. The 19-year-old is said to have sworn allegiance to the terrorist organization IS last month. Authorities in Austria have also found material from IS and al-Qaeda in the 17-year-old's home.
The 19-year-old was arrested in the town of Ternitz, about an hour from the site where the Taylor Swift concerts were to be held. The search of the area led to the evacuation of 60 homes.
Austria's Interior Minister Gerhard Karner commented on the suspected terror plans on Thursday.
The situation was serious, the situation is serious. But we can also say: A tragedy was prevented, he says according to AP.
Teenagers overrepresented
According to a study by terrorism researcher Peter Neumann at King's College London, several younger people have been arrested for suspected IS connections over the past nine months. Nearly two-thirds were teenagers. Of the 27 carried out or planned IS attacks, 38 of the 58 suspects were between 13 and 19 years old, reports CNN.
Often, young people are radicalized and recruited via social media, such as Tiktok. According to Neumann, data from Europol shows that the number of attacks and planned attacks has more than quadrupled since 2022.
Taylor Swift's three performances at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna were cancelled after the police arrests, and the 200,000 visitors will receive refunds for their tickets.
Next week, the world star has five planned concerts in London. The city's mayor, Sadiq Khan, stated on Thursday that the performances in the UK will take place as planned.
