Rewrite and substitute words with alternative synonyms while modifying the structure of the sentence

The counterterrorism head of the United Nations stated that Europe is facing a heightened danger from ISIS-K, the Islamic State branch to whom a 19-year-old man swore allegiance before planning to frighten attendees of Taylor Swift’s concert in Vienna this week.

Vladimir Vorokov, the UN deputy for counterterrorism, mentioned on Thursday the ISIS-K risk has unfortunately become evident in Vienna, where three of Swift’s performances were called off following the arrest of three suspects by Austrian authorities. He also noted that the ISIS affiliate is growing stronger and gaining influence.

“The organization is viewed as the most significant external terrorist peril to the continent,” Vorokov informed the UN Security Council, highlighting its increased efforts in recruiting and wide range of financial and logistical hubs.

Extremists belonging to the ISIS-K organization, situated in Afghanistan and named after the Khorasan area spanning parts of Central and South Asia, caused the deaths of over 140 individuals in a Moscow concert hall in March and more than 100 in bomb attacks in Iran in January.

John Cohen, a contributor to ABC News and former acting undersecretary for intelligence at the US Department of Homeland Security, expressed that it is “the most intricate, dynamic, and frankly perilous threat landscape that I’ve encountered in the over 40 years I’ve been involved in law enforcement and homeland security.”

The thwarted plots in Vienna follow two trends related to extremist beliefs impacting Europe, according to Lorenzo Vidino, director of the George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.

Individuals planning attacks are younger, ranging from 13 to 15 years old — a group dominated by teenagers, Vidino explained to ABC News. The individuals arrested in connection with the plan to target the Swift concert are reportedly 17, 18, and 19 years old.

“It’s a more disorganized environment where individuals self-radicalize and come together through online platforms, sometimes offline as well. However, the internet component has been expanding over recent years, and they become active independently,” Vidino expressed.

The second trend has been the rise of ISIS-K as the most powerful wing of the terrorist organization, Vidino noted.

“[ISIS] mainly functions through offshoots in various regions, and the one that I would consider the most successful — and arguably the only one consistently operating in the West and plotting terrorist attacks in the West — is ISIS-K,” he stated.

Austrian officials revealed that suspects were radicalized online and that chemical substances and technical equipment were discovered at the residence of the 19-year-old.

He was “clearly radicalized towards the Islamic State and believes it is justified to eliminate non-believers,” Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, leader of Austria’s Directorate of State Security and Intelligence, declared on Thursday.

Growing numbers of youths are watching ISIS and al-Qaeda videos online, leading to radicalization, Haijawi-Pirchner further added.

ABC News disclosed on Wednesday, when the three Swift concerts were called off following the arrests, that US intelligence located the commitment to ISIS-K by at least one of the suspects in early July on the messaging app Telegram.

Numerous sources informed ABC News that the U.S. shared the initial intelligence of a terrorist threat with Austria. This is not the first occasion the U.S. has transmitted such information. Prior to the March attack in Moscow, the State Department had released public cautions to Americans in Russia to steer clear of large assemblies.

“Regarding the thwarted schemes in Europe, I would assert that the vast majority were initiated by intelligence originating from the U.S.,” Vidino remarked.

Cohen, a former counterterrorism coordinator at DHS, mentioned that the Vienna conspiracy “is in line with the concerns of law enforcement and security officials from the past few years.”

Extremists have grasped how to “utilize the influence of the internet to disseminate content that is specifically designed to encourage and educate on terrorist attacks throughout Europe and the United States,” Cohen remarked.

ISIS governed extensive territory in Syria and Iraq and administered based on its extremist ideology, ruling over up to 12 million people by the conclusion of 2015. That presence had significantly diminished by 2019 following American and allied counterinsurgency efforts in the area.

“What they discovered is that the United States has become very proficient at identifying terrorist travel and intercepting terrorist communications, and therefore very skilled at … recognizing terrorist leaders,” Cohen stated about ISIS. “Therefore, they altered their strategies and added to their arsenal the dissemination of online content to impact the conduct of disenchanted, enraged young individuals worldwide.”

That “highly advanced media campaign,” Cohen highlighted, has remained a formidable influence, particularly in strengthening the regional channels that lead to a core largely lacking the traditional capacities ISIS once possessed in Syria and Iraq ten years ago.