Attack in Mecca

Friend of the Swift assassin caused a bloodbath

During questioning, Beran A. admitted that he wanted to commit a terrorist attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in August 2024 and kill "as many people as possible".

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA/Eva Manhart, zVg)

New findings on the thwarted "Swift assassin": The 19-year-old from Ternitz had already traveled to Dubai in March to carry out an attack in the name of Allah. While one of his best friends, also a young Lower Austrian, carried out a bloodbath in Mecca.

The fervent desire to finally become "courageous", finally "spiritually strong" enough to commit a crime in the name of IS seems to have been in Beran A. - the thwarted "Swift assassin" - for quite some time.

As early as the end of 2023, the then 18-year-old had repeatedly watched a certain video on a social media channel - as the results of data forensic investigations now show.

The horrific message of a hate preacher
From an Islamist hate preacher who tried to indoctrinate "hesitant disciples" with the following - terrifying - words for active participation in the "holy war": "Weep for yourself, my brother. Allah chooses men who strive to make Allah's word the only and supreme one, but you hide away at home. Weep for you, my brother, if you still have no love for jihad while others long to be killed in the way of Allah. Weep for yourself, my brother, and ask Allah for forgiveness ..."

Sentences that must have impressed and strengthened the industrial clerk apprentice in his will to accomplish atrocious things for his God.

He had already been in contact with like-minded people from Germany and abroad for over a year - via Telegram, Signal and TikTok; since then, he had chatted with some of them more and more often about places that would be "particularly suitable" for devastating attacks and about weapons that would be used - hand grenades, machine guns, vehicles, drone bombs, knives.

Beran A. with one of his many knives - Taylor Swift canceled her concert after the terror warning.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/AFP und zVg)

At the beginning of 2024, the 19-year-old and two of his fellow believers decided to carry out simultaneous attacks in three countries. One of their planned terrorist attacks in Mecca actually took place.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/hikrcn - stock.adobe.com)

As the investigators only recently realized, two young Lower Austrians were among his closest confidants at the time: "Person X", a boy whose identity has not yet been established; and Hasan E., born in 2004, the descendant of a respected small business family.

They wanted to carry out three assassinations at the same time
One thing is certain: All three made pledges of allegiance to IS, peppered with an alarming additional text, in front of rolling cell phone cameras in early 2024 - and subsequently published their heinous speeches on Snapchat.

"With this deed, with this sacrifice that I will give," each of them announced, "I will contribute to the liberation of the Arab countries from Muhammad's enemies, to the return of the caliphate and the conquest of the whole world by Muslims, devout Muslims, and rule according to Sharia law."

With this deed, with this sacrifice ...

What did the boys mean by this mysterious message? Their plan, drawn up together at personal meetings - individually, in different countries - to commit terrorist attacks. And to die in the process. On the same day, at the same hour. On March 11 - at the beginning of Ramadan.

At famous mosques, which are "symbols of evil" for Islam fanatics. Because they are also visited by tourists, by "infidels". And because more attention is paid to the buildings than to Allah during sightseeing tours.

It is documented: In February, Beran A. and his two friends finally began meticulous preparations for their crimes. They booked flight tickets with low-cost airlines and researched where they could easily obtain weapons at their destinations.

The young man from Ternitz taking the IS oath of allegiance. He had filmed himself with his cell phone camera.

(Bild: zVg, Krone KREATIV)

A bloody massacre - in a mosque
And soon they were on their way: "X" to Istanbul, Beran A. to Dubai, Hasan E. to Mecca. Conclusion: the latter - as has now been revealed - kept his terrible promise; at the appointed time, he stabbed a security guard in the neck with a dagger in front of the Al-Haram mosque and then seriously injured three other men and a woman. Until he was overpowered by emergency services. The 20-year-old has been in a prison in Saudi Arabia ever since.

Back to Hasan E.'s terrorist accomplices: Whether "X" - i.e. a "person from Austria" - committed an attack in Istanbul on March 11 is still under investigation. Our authorities have not yet received a report from the Turkish police in this regard.

One thing is certain: Beran A. remained inconspicuous during his stay in Dubai. He had wanted to "stab a soldier standing in front of a mosque" and then "shoot at people in the vicinity" with his revolver, the apprentice later confessed to an acquaintance.

And then he began to plan his "great work"
But in his fear of "dying in a hail of police bullets and having to suffer", he decided against an attack "virtually at the last moment".

A detonator that Beran A. had ordered at the click of a mouse

(Bild: zVg)

Back home, he turned to an imam in Vienna who specialized in exorcism, "who managed," claims the man from Ternitz, "to free me from my fear of pain in the course of an exorcism."

Which is why he was then able to quickly start organizing a mega-assassination "completely unencumbered".

According to the police's strong suspicions, he illegally acquired a pistol and used it to carry out shooting exercises at night in lonely fields. He bought sharp knives. He downloaded instructions on how to build a TATP bomb from the Internet and ordered the substances needed to make it - also with a click of the mouse. He watched documentaries about the Charlie Hebdo attack and the devastating terrorist attacks in America on September 11, 2001 in a continuous loop to strengthen himself mentally. He only ate healthy food, he steeled his body in a gym - sometimes up to three times a day.

He did all these things in order to be prepared for his horrific work.

While he was thinking about when and where it should take place, he allegedly repeatedly transferred sums of money to the accounts of terrorist organizations. And he pursued a young Muslim woman with whom he was "very much in love", but who had rejected him and thus "deeply disappointed" him, with hatred.

In chats, the boy posted pictures of an allegedly real revolver, which he said he had "obtained illegally".

(Bild: zVg)

"I'm thinking of butcheringher"
 "I want to butcher her", he declared in cell phone messages, and: "I'm thinking of butchering her ..."

Messages from him in relevant group chats prove this: After initially considering carrying out his "great deed" at a rainbow parade or in a tourist attraction - he decided at the end of July, while reading a newspaper report about Taylor Swift's upcoming performances in Vienna, to carry out an assassination on August 9; at the second of her three concerts.

And immediately - once again - he swore allegiance to IS: "I want to contribute to harming the kuffar and murtaddin. With Allah's permission, I will destroy them ..."

Beran A. is defended by the renowned lawyer Werner Tomanek: "My client is repentant and has confessed. Because he has finished with the past."

(Bild: zwefo)

Of course, he had - once again - filmed himself during his horror vow; of course, he had - once again - distributed the video in question on various social media channels under his characteristic nickname "Abu Dujanah 9/11"; of course, none of his fellow believers had - once again - betrayed him. But this time the FBI had been watching and listening - and alerted the Austrian police.

The boy was arrested on August 7. At his parents' house in Ternitz.

Investigations into the case are likely to continue for several months. Beran A. is not due to go on trial until fall 2025 at the earliest.

The boy is presumed innocent.

Entlarvende Chatnachrichten

Wie das FBI Beran A. überführte

Es war Ende Juli 2024, als das FBI den österreichischen Behörden einen alarmierenden Hinweis gab: Beran A., ein junger Ternitzer, sei anscheinend dabei, einen Anschlag auf eines der drei demnächst in Wien stattfindenden Taylor-Swift-Konzerte zu organisieren.

Ein Verdacht, der belegbar schien, durch – den amerikanischen Fahndern vorliegende – Chatnachrichten des 19-Jährigen. In denen er sich zum IS bekannt; in denen mit Glaubensbrüdern über seinen Hass auf „Ungläubige“, über Attentatszenarien und Hinrichtungsmethoden kommuniziert hatte.

Verdächtige Gegenstände, die von der Polizei bei Beran A. sichergestellt wurden, im Haus seiner Eltern.

(Bild: zVg)

Auf Grundlage der aus den USA übermittelten Daten wurden freilich groß angelegte Erhebungen gegen den Niederösterreicher eingeleitet; er wurde rund um die Uhr observiert. Und in der Folge dabei beobachtet, wie er im Haus seiner Eltern – das er gerade alleine bewohnte, weil Vater, Mutter und Schwester urlaubten – seltsame Dinge tat; etwa mit Substanzen hantierte, die zum Bau einer Bombe geeignet wären.

Fazit: Am 7. August wurde der Bursch verhaftet. Beinahe mit Stolz legte er dann ein Geständnis des Grauens ab: „Ja, es stimmt, ich wollte bei dem Swift-Konzert am 9. August so viele Fans wie möglich töten.“ Mit Handgranaten, mit einem Fahrzeug, mit Messern und Dolchen ...

Beran A. hat mittlerweile diese Aussagen – teilweise – revidiert. „Ich habe in den Verhören übertrieben“, behauptet er nun.

Der Terror-Verdächtige wurde bereits von Gerichtspsychiater Peter Hofmann untersucht. Das entsprechende Gutachten liegt seit Dezember vor. Den Analysen des Sachverständigen zufolge, leide der Niederösterreicher weder an einer Geisteskrankheit, noch an einer Persönlichkeitsstörung, er sei demnach „voll zurechnungsfähig“.