Inside the Taylor Swift ISIS Suicide Bomb Plot: Security Expert Lifts Lid on How Singer's Concerts Are Sitting Duck Targets for Extremists' Terror Carnage
Taylor Swift narrowly avoided a suicide bomb plot in Vienna earlier this month.
And now RadarOnline.com can reveal how the 34-year-old pop star's concerts have become sitting duck targets for terrorist extremists dead set on causing maximum carnage against Swift and her fans.
Security expert Morgan Stevens told us: "High-profile events in general tend to attract more attention from those intending to commit nefarious acts of terrorism or violence.
"While the popularity of Taylor Swift does make the event a more prominent target, the underlying reasons are rooted in the characteristics of large public gatherings and the goals of those intending to cause maximum harm."
As RadarOnline.com reported, the Anti-Hero singer was forced to cancel the Austrian leg of her Eras Tour on August 7 after main suspect Beran A. and two accomplices were arrested in connection with a foiled terrorist plot.
The trio planned to "carry out an attack using explosives and knives" outside the Ernst Happel Stadium venue where Swift was scheduled to perform on August 8, 9 and 10.
Domestic Intelligence Agency head Omar Haijawi-Pirchner said: "He wanted to carry out an attack in the area outside the stadium, killing as many people as possible using the knives or even using the explosive devices he had made.
"His aim was to kill himself and a large number of people during the concert."
Public Security Director Franz Ruf added Beran A. and his two suspected accomplices were “radicalized” by ISIS and “made an oath of allegiance” to the terrorist group in the days leading up to the thwarted attack that could have left hundreds of Swift's fans dead.
Ruf said: "The suspects became radicalized by the internet, a 19-year-old citizen of Lower Austria made an oath of allegiance to the current leader of ISIS at the beginning of July."
While the main suspect made an oath of allegiance to ISIS in July, another suspect – identified only as an 18-year-old Iraqi national – took an oath of allegiance to the terrorist group on August 6.
Swift finally broke her silence on the thwarted terrorist attack after she officially wrapped the European leg of her Eras Tour on Thursday at Wembley Stadium.
She wrote on Instagram: "Walking onstage in London was a rollercoaster of emotions.
"Having our Vienna shows canceled was devastating. The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.
- Travis Kelce 'Does a Prince Harry' By Celebrating 35th Birthday Without Billionare Taylor Swift Amid Swirl of Rumors Pair Are on The Rocks After 'Showmance' Scandal
- Taylor Swift 'Dodging Travis Kelce's NFL Games Over Fresh Security Fears' — and 'Not Because Their Relationship Is on the Rocks'
- Taylor Swift and Katy Perry 'Finally Bury Hatchet' and Are 'Comforting Each Other Through Thick and Thin'
DAILY. BREAKING. CELEBRITY NEWS. ALL FREE.
"But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives."
Another tragic incident in Southport, England is likely still fresh in the Love Story singer's mind.
Three little girls were killed and ten more people were hospitalized after a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop on July 29.
Swift said she was "completely in shock" and "at a complete loss for how to convey sympathies" to those affected by the tragedy.
She wrote on Instagram in the wake of that incident: “The horror of yesterday's attack in Southport is washing over me continuously and I'm just completely in shock.
"The loss of life and innocence, and the horrendous trauma inflicted on everyone who was there, the families, and first responders. These were just little kids at a dance class.
"I am at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families."
Have a tip? Send it to us! Email RadarOnline.com at tips@radaronline.com.