Der vereitelte Anschlagsplan auf das Taylor-Swift-Konzert in Wien vom August 2024 verdeutlicht einen alarmierenden Trend islamistisch inspirierter jugendlicher Jihadisten, die gezielt Großveranstaltungen ins Visier nehmen, um möglichst viele Opfer zu fordern und maximale mediale Aufmerksamkeit zu erlangen. Nicolas Stockhammer & Colin P. Clarke (Director of Policy and Research at The Soufan Group) analysieren für den renommierten Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) SENTINEL (West Point) die Hintergründe und strukturellen Zusammenhänge, die zu diesem im Vorfeld unterbundenen Terrorszenario und schließlich zur Absage der drei Swift-Konzerte geführt haben.
Jänner 2025, CTC SENTINEL
The Vienna Taylor Swift concert plot highlights an alarming trend of Islamic State-inspired teenage jihadis targeting events to inflict maximum casualties and attract widespread media attention. The plot also underlined that Islamic State Khorasan (ISK), which appears to have inspired the lead plotter, remains an enduring threat, evolving its tactics and strategy while focusing on radicalizing followers and supporters through relentless online propaganda. The suspects in the Vienna plot epitomized the interplay of online and offline radicalization, with extremist content on social media platforms like TikTok playing a pivotal role. Influential salafi preachers use pop culture references as an on-ramp for more radical content, specifically targeting youth. Austrian authorities, supported by international intelligence agencies, disrupted the plot, which aimed to use vehicle ramming, knives, and explosives. The arrests underscore the importance of transnational intelligence cooperation and advanced surveillance techniques in counterterrorism efforts. The global terrorist threat landscape indicates that increasingly shifting resources away from counterterrorism to strategic competition will come at a cost.
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READ MORE: https://ctc.westpoint.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/CTC-SENTINEL-012025_article-2.pdf