Taylor Swift concert terror plot suspect had chemical substances, technical devices at his home: Officials
(VIENNA, Austria) — Chemical substances and technical devices were found at the house of a 19-year-old Austrian suspected of planning an attack on upcoming Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna, Austria, the public security director at Austria’s Ministry of Interior, Franz Ruf, told public broadcaster ORF’s Oe1 program in an interview Thursday.
Ruf added that these are still being evaluated by investigators. He previously confirmed during a press conference on Wednesday that chemical substances had been secured and were being evaluated.
Three of Swift’s concerts scheduled this week in Vienna were canceled after two suspects were arrested Wednesday for allegedly plotting a terror attack, authorities said.
The cancellations came hours after authorities announced a 19-year-old Austrian citizen was arrested Wednesday morning and a second suspect was arrested in the afternoon.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky, Felix Franz, Will Gretsky, Emily Shapiro, Josh Margolin and Luke Barr contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — A 17-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with a stabbing that injured at least eight people in the United Kingdom, police and emergency officials said Monday.
The incident isn’t being treated as terror-related and no other suspects are being sought, police said. A motive isn’t clear, police added.
“Armed police have detained a male and seized a knife. He has been taken to a police station,” the department said in a statement.
Officers responded just before noon local time to reports of a stabbing at a property on Hart Street in Southport, a seaside town about 20 miles north of Liverpool, according to Merseyside police.
The eight injured people were transferred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Aintree University Hospital and Southport and Formby hospital, the North West Ambulance Service said on social media. The patients’ conditions and ages were not immediately released.
Thirteen ambulances had been dispatched to the scene, along with a Hazardous Area Response Team, an Air Ambulance and and Merit Doctors, emergency officials said.
Officials at Alder Hey said they were “working with other emergency services to respond to this incident and our Emergency Department is currently extremely busy.” The Liverpool hospital said it had declared Monday’s stabbing a “major incident.”
“We ask parents to only bring their children to the Emergency Department if it is urgent,” the hospital said in a statement.
“Horrendous and deeply shocking news emerging from Southport,” U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote on social media. “My thoughts are with all those affected. I would like to thank the police and emergency services for their swift response. I am being kept updated as the situation develops.”
The town of Southport sits in the county of Merseyside, in England’s northwest.
(VIENNA, Austria) — Taylor Swift’s three concerts in Vienna this week have been canceled after two suspects were arrested for allegedly plotting a terror attack, authorities said.
“We have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety,” a message from Barracuda Music said. “All tickets will be automatically refunded.”
The cancellation comes hours after authorities announced a 19-year-old Austrian citizen was arrested Wednesday morning and a second suspect was arrested in the afternoon.
The suspects allegedly radicalized themselves online, Franz Ruf, director-general for public safety in the Ministry of the Interior, said at a press conference. The 19-year-old suspect allegedly pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State in the beginning of July, Ruf said.
Vienna was a target of their planned attack and the 19-year-old suspect had a particular focus on Swift’s Vienna concert, Ruf said.
The pop star had concerts scheduled in Vienna this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Before the shows were canceled, Ruf said security at the concerts would be increased. The shows were expected to draw 65,000 concertgoers per day, with an additional 10,000 to 15,000 fans outside of the area, police said.
Swift kicked off the massively successful “Eras Tour” in Glendale, Arizona, on March 18, 2023.
In October 2023, the pop star released a concert film chronicling the record-breaking tour, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” that went on to break records of its own and earn a Golden Globe nomination.
At the 100th stop of the tour this summer in Liverpool, England, the 14-time Grammy winner told the audience the tour “has definitely been the most exhausting, all-encompassing, but most joyful, most rewarding, most wonderful thing that has ever happened in my life thus far.”
The “Eras Tour” will end in Vancouver, Canada, on Dec. 8.
ABC News’ Carson Blackwelder contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Israel’s war in Gaza has hit another grim milestone after the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the strip declared that the death toll had passed 40,000 since the start of the war on Oct. 8.
On Thursday officials in Gaza said a total of 40,005 people had been killed in the conflict.
That figure does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. However, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said there were more than 11,000 women and more than 16,000 children among the dead.
Israel launched its war in Gaza on Oct. 8, the day after Hamas carried out a surprise terror attack in southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, including women and children.
The true death toll in Gaza, after more than 10 months of war, could be significantly higher than the Health Ministry’s figure because officials in Gaza estimate that an additional 10,000 people in Gaza are unaccounted for because of the war.
Casey Harrity from Wyoming, who is working in Gaza for the non-governmental organization Save the Children, agrees that the true death toll from the war is “far higher.”
Harrity, who is the NGO’s Team Lead in the strip, said Israel’s military operations over the past 10 months had “squeezed” the population of Gaza “into an incredibly small area.”
In recent days, the IDF has been dropping leaflets in the city of Khan Younis in the south of Gaza, warning civilians to relocate ahead of military operations. The Israel Defense Forces’ tactic of moving civilians has been commonplace throughout much of the war, meaning many Gazans have been displaced multiple times and much of the civilian population now lives in large encampments made up of tents.
“Every available part of land is taken up by tents,” Harrity told ABC News during a videolink interview from her office in Gaza.
“The population doesn’t have toilets. They don’t have running water. They’re living in incredibly dire situations. And we’re seeing outbreaks of disease in these shelters and camps. We’re seeing truly horrifying conditions,” she said.
Harrity said she hears “bombardments, every night” in Gaza. But she said she was “lucky” to be sleeping in a building.
“The vast majority of the population is living outside. They have nowhere safe to go,” she added.
ABC News also spoke to Ghada Al-Haddad, a Palestinian in Gaza working for British-based non-profit Oxfam.
She described how people in Gaza live in constant fear and families often congregate in the same place at night because they would rather be killed together than risk mourning the death of their loved ones.
“When you go to bed, you are not sure you are going to make it to the morning,” Al-Haddad said in an interview with ABC News.
U.N. schools in Gaza were deemed to be “safe spaces” where displaced Palestinian families could shelter.
However, the United Nations Human Rights Office said “at least” 21 schools in Gaza have been targeted by the IDF since early July.
The IDF has accused Hamas of “systematically” hiding and operating from within schools.
However, Al-Haddad said it was now clear that Gaza’s schools “are no longer safe.”
Both Harrity and Al-Haddad spoke of the suffering of Gaza’s children.
Al-Haddad, from British charity Oxfam, said many children in Gaza today are so used to the brutality of war that they can now distinguish between the noise of an Israeli airstrike or an Israeli artillery shell exploding.
She said many children have to walk miles to fetch water for their families or to find wood so they can make a fire to cook.
“This war is … very severe, very brutal and it doesn’t … come to an end,” said Al-Haddad.
Casey Harrity from Save the Children said innocent bystanders are constantly caught up in the crossfire of the war.
“Children are impacted more with their small bodies. When a blast like that goes off, they’re thrown farther, they’re thrown faster, their bones bend and break,” Harrity told ABC News.
“So children really are the largest victims in this war,” she added.
The IDF has said it takes multiple measures, like the use of high-precision weaponry and intelligence, to minimize civilian casualties.