Taylor Swift concert terror plot could have killed thousands: CIA

“They were found with explosives, they were found with bomb-making material and they had access to the location,” Cohen said. “They were planning to kill a huge number, tens of thousands of people at this concert, including, I’m sure, many Americans.”

“The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them with information about what this ISIS-related group was planning to do,” he added, saying “they were saved, no doubt, hundreds of lives”.

The pop star was due to perform three shows on August 8-10 at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium to an estimated crowd of 200,000.

However, Austrian concert promoter Barracuda Music announced the cancellation via Instagram, saying: “With confirmation from government officials of a planned terrorist attack at the Ernst Happel Stadium, we have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety.” .

Swift herself remained mum about the concert cancellations until she finished the European leg of her tour.

“The cancellation of our shows in Vienna was devastating. The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of dread and an enormous amount of guilt,” she wrote in an Instagram post on August 21.

“But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them I was suffering concerts and not lives,” she added.