The CIA has said the suspects in the foiled plot to attack a recent concert of internationally popular singer Taylor Swift in Vienna wanted to kill “a huge number” of people.
The intelligence provided by the agency to Austrian authorities allowed them to disrupt the plot and save “hundreds of lives” , CIA’s deputy director David Cohen was quoted as saying by BBC.
Cohen highlighted that there were “tens of thousands of people at this concert, I am sure many Americans”.
Three people were arrested in connection with the failed attacks.
According to reports, they were inspired by Islamic State terror group.
“The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them with information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do,” Cohen was quoted as saying by BBC.
He did not disclose how his agency got information about the plot.
The concerts were part of Taylor Swift’s popular Eras tour.
A day before the first show, on August 7, the organizers of the event said the shows would be scrapped following a warning about a “planned terrorist attack”.
In her Instagram post, Swift recently said she felt ‘devastating’ following the cancellation of the Vienna shows.
“Having our Vienna shows cancelled 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. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives,” she said.
