CNN
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Police in Austria are questioning three teenagers suspected of planning a suicide bomb attack at a Taylor Swift concert, rekindling concerns about the indoctrination of young people online.
Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Kerner said foreign intelligence services had helped authorities uncover the alleged plot, and a source familiar with the matter told CNN that the US had alerted authorities in Vienna.
Organizers canceled three concerts that were scheduled to take place in European capitals from Thursday through Saturday. CNN has reached out to Swift’s representatives for comment.
Authorities said investigators found large amounts of chemicals, explosives and detonators at the home of the ringleader, a 19-year-old ISIS supporter who had been radicalized online.
The head of the country’s intelligence agency, Omar Hajjawi Pirchner, said the young man, who was arrested on Wednesday morning in the eastern town of Telnitz, had planned to kill himself and “a number of other people.”
“He said he intended to carry out an attack with explosives and a knife,” Hajjawi-Pirchner told reporters in Vienna on Thursday. “His aim was to kill himself and many other people during the concert today or tomorrow.”
Two other suspects, ages 17 and 15, were also detained. The 17-year-old worked for an equipment company that provided services at the concert venue. Heidi-Wai Pilchner said he was near the stadium when he was arrested and had recently split up with his girlfriend.
Little has been released about the 15-year-old boy, as prosecutors will determine whether he was a witness or otherwise directly involved in the alleged conspiracy.
All three were born in Austria and are of Turkish, North Macedonian or Croatian descent.
The country’s public security chief, Franz Ruff, said the three were in contact with others who knew about the plot, adding that no other people were being sought for direct involvement in the plot.
The cancellation of Swift’s concerts has sparked an outpouring of heartbreak, sadness and relief among Swift fans who had hoped to join her in Vienna for her record-breaking Eraser Tour. Hailed as a cultural phenomenon, the scale, influence and complexity of Swift’s musical journey has drawn attention for boosting the economies of the cities she visits.
