Terrorists Wanted To Kill 'Tens Of Thousands' At Taylor Swift Concert: CIA

The Central Intelligence Agency helped foil a terror plot that aimed to kill "tens of thousands" of fans at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, Austria. The information was revealed by CIA Deputy Director David Cohen during a briefing on Wednesday (August 28). The suspects, linked to the Islamic State group, were planning a massive attack on the concertgoers , which led to the cancellation of three sold-out shows of Swift's Eras Tour in Vienna earlier this month.

"They were plotting to kill a huge number — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including I am sure many Americans — and were quite advanced in this," Cohen said .

The main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian man, allegedly planned to attack the estimated 30,000 fans expected to gather outside the Ernst Happel Stadium with knives or homemade explosives. The venue itself holds 65,000, and more than 200,000 fans were anticipated for the shows. During a raid of the main suspect's home, police reportedly found chemical substances and other technical devices that were to be used in the attack.

"The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do," Cohen said .

Swift broke her silence about the cancellations last week after her London shows had concluded. In a statement posted to Instagram, she expressed her gratitude to the authorities, saying, "Thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives."

The suspects' lawyer has suggested that Austrian authorities were exaggerating the details in order to expand their surveillance powers. However, the CIA's intervention has been praised as a significant counterterrorism success.

The Eras Tour is currently on hiatus until the fall.