Germany charges Syrian teen over Vienna Taylor Swift bomb plot

German federal prosecutors said Friday they have charged a Syrian teenager with supporting a foreign terrorist organization after he allegedly helped plan a failed Islamic State attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna last August.

The youth, identified only as Mohammad A., is accused of translating Arabic bomb-making instructions and connecting an Austrian accomplice with an IS contact online. Investigators say the pair aimed to detonate explosives at Swift’s shows in Vienna’s Ernst-Happel Stadium, prompting authorities to scrap all three dates.

Prosecutors allege Mohammad A. adopted IS ideology by April 2024 and actively guided the Austrian suspect between mid-July and August of that year.

Austria has since moved to expand police powers to access encrypted chats, addressing what officials called a critical security gap exposed by the plot.

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