Spain mourns the dead
Suspects wanted to use bombs but plan fell through, say police
SUSPECTS in Spain’s twin terror attacks were preparing an even bigger assault but were thwarted in their plans and forced to act quickly, police said yesterday.
“They were preparing one or several attacks in Barcelona and an explosion in Alcanar stopped this as they no longer had the material they needed to commit attacks of an even bigger scope,” said Josep Lluis Trapero of Catalonia’s police.
He was referring to a blast in a house in the town of Alcanar on Wednesday evening which police said caused one death and was caused by an attempt to make explosive devices.
The vehicle attacks on Thursday that killed 14 and wounded more than 130 in a bustling tourist area here and in the seaside resort of Cambrils have affected at least 34 nationalities.
Seventeen of the wounded are in a critical condition and 30 are in a serious condition.
Police said they had killed five “suspected terrorists” and arrested four as Spain reeled from the double tragedy here and in Cambrils, 120km to the south.
The driver responsible for the carnage in the city remains at large. Police believe the two attacks are connected.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, King Felipe VI and Carles Puigdemont, president of Catalonia where both places are located, held a minute of silence here that was followed by applause and shouts of “not afraid”.
The attacks followed the same modus operandi, with drivers targeting pedestrians with their vehicles, slamming them to the ground or sending them flying in the latest such assault in Europe.
The Islamic State group’s propaganda agency, Amaq, has claimed that one of its “soldiers” carried out the rampage in the city. This is believed to be the first IS claim of an attack in Spain.
In the incident here, a white van sped down the popular Las Ramblas avenue packed full of tourists on Thursday afternoon, knocking people down and killing 14 in a scene of chaos and horror.
The driver left the vehicle on the busy boulevard lined with shops and restaurants, and fled on foot.
Witnesses recounted how the van pushed through the crowd, leaving bodies strewn along the boulevard as other people fled for their lives, screaming in panic in scenes of chaos and confusion.
“We heard the van and the impact with people and then we saw people running,” said Alex Luque, a 19-year-old student from New York.
“We got separated from my grandparents and I had to take my younger sister to try to find safety,” he said yesterday.
Just eight hours later, attackers struck again in the early hours of yesterday in Cambrils where an Audi A3 car rammed into pedestrians, injuring six civilians and a police officer. One of the civilians later died. Gunfire ensued during which police killed the five attackers.
Markel Artabe, a 20-year-old restaurant worker, said he was on the seaside promenade when he heard what he initially thought were fireworks, but soon realised were gunshots. He said he saw a person lying on the floor “with a gunshot in the head. His friends were crying out ‘help’.”
Police said on Thursday that one of the arrested suspects in the attack here was a Spaniard born in Melilla, a Spanish territory in North Africa, and the other a Moroccan named as Driss Oukabir.
Catalonia has the highest concentration of radicalised Islamists in the country along with Madrid and the Spanish territories of Ceuta and Melilla that border Morocco.
Spanish authorities came under fire yesterday from shocked residents and holidaymakers for not better protecting the city’s most famous thoroughfare.
Residents and workers said they had feared the area could be a target for attacks and questioned why city authorities had not installed bollards or barriers to stop vehicles from attempting to mow down passersby.
The authorities had previously placed concrete blocks to secure vulnerable areas, and the city had temporarily deployed such measures in some central avenues during New Year celebrations.
The city had also banned large trucks from accessing central areas in that period.
Large concrete plant pots were placed near Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol square overnight after the attack.