Austrian pleads guilty to ISIL-planned attack on Taylor Swift concert

Beran A admits conspiring in other plans abroad as well as planning attack on Swift’s Vienna concert.A 21-year-old Austrian man has pleaded guilty to planning an attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna that was foiled the day before the event in August 2024.As his trial opened in the Austrian capital on Tuesday, Beran A admitted the charges relating to the conspiracy to mount the attack. Three dates in Swift’s record-breaking tour were cancelled when authorities warned of the plot.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Trump comments on deaths of US filmmaker Rob Reiner and wife cause outragelist 2 of 3Police arrest Rob Reiner’s son after director and wife found deadlist 3 of 3Tom Stoppard, celebrated British playwright, dies aged 88end of listThe defendant is also accused, alongside Slovak national Arda K, of planning attacks in the Middle East that they did not go through with, and of providing moral support to a third man ‌who has been arrested on suspicion of carrying out a knife attack in Mecca.Beran A, Arda K and the third man, all school friends, had planned to carry out one attack each ⁠in Dubai, Istanbul and Mecca in March 2024.While each travelled to the designated cities, ⁠only the third man launched an attack. He was ⁠arrested on suspicion of stabbing a security official at Mecca’s Grand Mosque and remains in custody in Saudi Arabia.Arda K pleaded guilty to travelling to Istanbul with the intention of carrying out an attack. Beran A admitted to travelling to Dubai for the same reason. They pleaded not guilty, however, to providing moral support to the third ‌man.Beran A told the court he had sought out potential victims while in Dubai, including tourists and soldiers, but then could not bring himself to stab anybody as he had a “panic attack” each time.“I thought, ‘I have ‌to ‌carry out the attack; at the same time, I’m afraid of dying’,” he told the court.