A 19-year-old Austrian man who was arrested before he could carry out a bombing attack on Taylor Swift's concert in Vienna had considered the Israeli embassy in the Austrian capital as a possible target, the Washington Post revealed on Monday.
The report contains exclusive details taken from Austrian records regarding the case surrounding Beran Aliji, who had sworn allegiance to Islamic State just weeks before the attempted attack.
In a text message sent to a stranger he believed to be an IS member, Aliji said "I will try try to get a gun and bombs. If that doesn't work, I will use big knives. Or I will kill a police officer and take his rifle."
According to the Washington Post, Aliji immersed himself in violent videos and IS chatrooms as a way of managing his depression.
Furthermore, the report depicts a path to radicalization which it itself describes as remarkably similar to the recent New Year's Day attack in New Orleans, which resulted in the murder of 14 people. The New Orleans attacker, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, similarly appeared to have become radicalized following series of personal issues, and subsequently pledged allegiance to IS.
However, unlike Jabbar, Aliji was said to have very few resources at his disposal, and chose the Taylor Swift concert as his target more out of opportunity.
He also had no clear plan, and was repeatedly unable to obtain weapons, pushing him to attempt to build a bomb at home.
Relevance of Islamic State
During his planning stages, he also considered a Shi'ite mosque, Kurdish diplomats and Israeli Embassy in Vienna. However, he chose the Taylor Swift concert because one of his friends worked for a company that provided security and logistical support.
The most worrying part of the case, the report stated, was the evident ease with which individuals can find terrorist content online.
“ISIS is still very relevant, especially for the young generation,” said Rita Katz, founder of SITE Intelligence Group, a private company that monitors extremist online activity. “You can find them online more easily than a few years ago.”