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Barcelona van attacker among five killed by police - Spanish media

By Andrés González, Angus Berwick and Carlos Ruano

 

Workers place concrete barriers to prevent possible attacks on the walk "Muelle Uno" a day after a van crashed into pedestrians at Las Ramblas, outside town hall in Malaga, Spain August 18, 2017. REUTERS/Jon Nazca

 

BARCELONA (Reuters) - The driver of the van that ploughed into crowds in Barcelona, killing 13 people, was one of five men shot dead by police in a Catalan seaside resort hours later, Spanish newspapers reported on Friday.

 

Josep Lluis Trapero, police chief in Spain's northeastern region of Catalonia, had said earlier that it was possible, but not confirmed, that the driver was among those killed.

 

The driver abandoned the van and fled on Thursday after speeding along a pedestrianised section of Las Ramblas, the most famous boulevard in Barcelona, leaving a trail of dead and injured among the crowds of tourists and local residents thronging the street.

 

It was the latest of a string of attacks across Europe in the past 13 months in which militants have used vehicles as weapons - a crude but deadly tactic that is near-impossible to prevent and has now killed nearly 130 people in France, Germany, Britain, Sweden and Spain.

 

Suspected jihadists have been behind the previous attacks. Islamic State said the perpetrators of the latest one had been responding to its call to target countries involved in a U.S.-led coalition against the Sunni militant group.

 

Hours after the van rampage, police shot dead five people in the Catalan resort of Cambrils, 120 km (75 miles) down the coast from Barcelona, after they drove their car at pedestrians and police officers.

 

The five assailants had an axe and knives in their car and wore fake explosive belts, police said. A single police officer shot four of the men, Trapero said.

 

A Spanish woman was killed in the Cambrils incident, while several other civilians and a police officer were injured.

 

Trapero said the investigation was focussing on a house in Alcanar, southwest of Barcelona, which was razed by an explosion shortly before midnight on Wednesday.

 

Police believe the house was being used to plan one or several large-scale attacks in Barcelona, possibly using a large number of butane gas canisters stored there.

 

However, the apparently accidental explosion at the house forced the conspirators to scale down their plans and to hurriedly carry out more "rudimentary" attacks, Trapero said.

 

FOUR ARRESTS

 

Police have arrested four people in connection with the attacks - three Moroccans and a citizen of Spain's North African enclave of Melilla, Trapero said. They were aged between 21 and 34, and none had a history of terrorism-related activities.

 

Authorities have issued arrest warrants for four further suspects in connection with the two attacks, a judicial source said, declining to give their names.

 

La Vanguardia, a Barcelona-based newspaper, said the four being sought were all of Moroccan origin and aged between 17 and 24.

 

Catalan police said later that all five of the men killed in Cambrils had been identified. Spain's Europa Press news agency quoted sources close to the investigation as saying that three of the four men being sought by the police were among the dead, while a fourth was still at large.

 

King Mohammed VI of Morocco sent his condolences to Spain, and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy from aboard Air Force One.

 

Police in France are looking for the driver of a white Renault Kangoo van that may been used by people involved in the Barcelona attack, a French police source told Reuters.

 

WORST SINCE 2004

 

It was the deadliest attack in Spain since March 2004, when Islamist militants placed bombs on commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people.

 

Of 126 people injured in Barcelona and Cambrils, 65 were still in hospital and 17 were in a critical condition. The dead and injured came from 34 countries, ranging from France and Germany to Pakistan and the Philippines.

 

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said an American citizen was confirmed dead, and Spanish media said several children were killed.

 

A judicial source said investigators believed a cell of at least eight people, possibly 12, may have been involved in the Barcelona and Cambrils operations and that it had been planning to use gas canisters.

 

As Spain began three days of mourning, people returned to Las Ramblas, laying flowers and lighting candles in memory of the victims. Rajoy and Spain's King Felipe visited Barcelona's main square nearby to observe a minute's silence.

 

Defiant crowds later chanted "I am not afraid" in Catalan.

 

Foreign leaders voiced condemnation and sympathy, including French President Emmanuel Macron, whose nation has suffered some of Europe's deadliest recent attacks.

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking after media reports that some Germans were among those killed, said Islamist terrorism "can never defeat us" and vowed to press ahead with campaigning for a general election in Germany in September.

 

In a message to the cardinal of Barcelona, Pope Francis said the attack was "an act of blind violence that is a grave offence to the Creator".

 

Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the attack showed the European Union's system of migrant relocation was wrong. "It is dangerous. Europe should wake up," he said. "We are dealing here with a clash of civilisations."

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-19

[ezzra]

Like all of its acts of terror it is notable not just for its tragedy but for its idiocy: The randomness of the target, the innocence of the victims and the moronic ideology of the cause.

 

Perhaps the only sliver of condolence in the carnage is that this, like its other DIY attacks, is a sign that ISIS is getting desperate. Its so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria is crumbling, it is losing the battle against real soldiers, and so it tries to distract us with the murder of innocent men, women and children. What godless cowards they truly are.....

[halloween]

" A single police officer shot four of the men ....."

 

Well done, that man!

[Slip]

About an hour ago the BBC was reporting that the Spanish authorities now believe that the driver was not among those shot in Cambrils.

[Celer et Audax]

" A single police officer shot four of the men ....."
 
Well done, that man!

The police officer is in fact a women


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Rancid]

This whole sick scenario is getting all too common. Hmm, just as well the attacker left his passport in the van so that police could immediately identify him, just like in so many other terrorist attacks with passports turning up. Pity every time the attacker (except in Iran) is also never captured to interrogate.

[halloween]

1 minute ago, Rancid said:

This whole sick scenario is getting all too common. Hmm, just as well the attacker left his passport in the van so that police could immediately identify him, just like in so many other terrorist attacks with passports turning up. Pity every time the attacker (except in Iran) is also never captured to interrogate.

Not his but his brother's passport. I'm guessing his brother didn't want to play their silly games.

[boomerangutang]

 I was going to say; leaving a passport at a crime scene has more to do with wanting to create a false lead, than simple forgetfulness. 

 

Kudos to the officer who shot and killed the four weapons-carrying bad guys.  If it was in the US, the officer would be compelled to cause as little harm to the suspects as possible - thereby enabling the bad guys to drive away.   Sometimes dynamic action is what's needed, and it sounds like she did the right thing, given the circumstances.    I'd be curious to know whether the guys in the car brandished their weapons and/or pointed them at the officer, or whether the weapons were found after they'd been slain. 

[Scott]

I would hazard to guess that they may bring their passports with them.   It's not like they can drop by the house and pick them up when they escape.  

[rijb]

1 hour ago, Rancid said:

This whole sick scenario is getting all too common. Hmm, just as well the attacker left his passport in the van so that police could immediately identify him, just like in so many other terrorist attacks with passports turning up. Pity every time the attacker (except in Iran) is also never captured to interrogate.

Interrogate?  We know the answers.

 

What's your name?       allahu akbar!

Where do you live?       allahu akbar!

Why did you do this?   allahu akbar!

Can we make peace?  death to the infidels!

[ilostmypassword]

On 8/19/2017 at 0:11 PM, Thongkon007 said:

Murdering men, women and innocent children is something that should not be done.

 

 

 

 

สล๊อตออนไลน์

So murdering men and women is always wrong, but murdering children is only wrong if they're innocent?