Terror returns to the streets
Weapon of choice
SPAIN: A manhunt was under way for the driver of a van that mowed through crowds of tourists on Barcelona’s most famous avenue yesterday, killing at least 13 people in an attack that was claimed by Islamic State.
Authorities said the death toll could rise, with more than 100 people injured, some seriously.
Police said they had arrested two men, a Moroccan and a man from Spain’s north African enclave of Melilla, though neither was the driver. Witnesses said the driver fled on foot.
It was still not clear how many attackers were involved.
Hours beforehand, one person was killed in an explosion in a house in a town southwest of Barcelona, in an incident linked to the attack, police added. Residents of the house were preparing explosives, a police source said.
As the manhunt continued into the night, police said several attackers were killed in a shootout during an operation against what they called a possible ‘‘terror attack’’ in Cambrils, another town south of Barcelona.
Earlier in Barcelona, witnesses said the white van zig-zagged at high speed down Las Ramblas, a busy avenue thronged with tourists, hitting pedestrians and cyclists, sending some hurtling through the air and leaving bodies strewn in its wake.
Isis’s Amaq news agency said: ‘‘The perpetrators of the Barcelona attack are soldiers of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting coalition states’’ – a reference to a United States-led coalition against the Sunni militant group.
Spain has several hundred soldiers in Iraq providing training to local forces in the fight against Isis, but they are not involved in ground operations.
The Isis claim could not immediately be verified.
If the involvement of Islamist militants is confirmed, it would be the latest in a string of attacks in the past 13 months in which they have used vehicles to bring carnage to the streets of European cities.
That modus operandi – crude, deadly and very hard to prevent – has killed well over 100 people in Nice, Berlin, London and Stockholm.
British tourist Keith Welling, who arrived in Barcelona on Thursday with his wife and 9-yearold daughter, said they saw the van drive past them down the avenue and took refuge in a restaurant when panic broke out and the crowd started running.
‘‘People were shouting and we heard a bang, and someone cried that it was a gunshot . . . Me and my family ran into the restaurant along with around 40 other people.
‘‘At first, people were going crazy in there, lots of people crying, including a little girl around three years old.’’
It was the deadliest attack in Spain since March 2004, when Islamist militants placed bombs on commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people and wounding more than 1800.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced three days of official mourning for what he called a ‘‘jihadist attack’’.
The Spanish royal household said on Twitter: ‘‘They are murderers, nothing more than criminals who are not going to terrorise us. All of Spain is Barcelona.’’
Police said the two men detained after the attack had been arrested in two towns, Ripoll and Alcanar, both in the region of Catalonia, of which Barcelona is the capital.
The explosion was also in the town of Alcanar, in the early hours. One person died and another was injured in that incident, police said.
Police said they also shot dead a man who had driven a car into a police checkpoint in Barcelona yesterday, though they had no evidence that he was connected with the van attack.
Mobile phone footage showed several bodies strewn along the Ramblas, some motionless. Paramedics and bystanders were bent over them, treating them and trying to comfort those still conscious.
Around them, the boulevard was deserted, covered in rubbish and abandoned objects, including hats, flip-flops, bags and a pram.
Belgium’s foreign minister said a Belgian was among the dead.
Regional head Carles Puigdemont said people had been flocking to hospitals in Barcelona to give blood.
Susana Elvira Carolina, 33, who works at a shop on Las Ramblas, had just entered her building when the van struck.
‘‘We had a window, and you could see the bodies lying from there, you could see how people were run over . . . We were shutting down the blinds but people kept coming in, and we had to keep it open so they could enter the shop.’’
The incident took place at the height of the tourist season in Barcelona, one of Europe’s top travel destinations with at least 11 million visitors a year.
French President Emmanuel Attacks using vehicles in the past year: June 3, 2017 – London Eight people, including two Australians, are killed and 48 wounded when three men drive a van into pedestrians on London Bridge before launching knife attacks on people enjoying a night out in Borough Market. April 7, 2017 – Stockholm A stolen truck is rammed into a crowd in the Swedish capital, killing four people and wounding 15 others. March 22, 2017 – London A man drives a hired car over Westminster Bridge, near the Houses of Parliament, mounts the pavement and hits pedestrians before crashing into railings outside the Palace of Westminster, killing six people, including a policeman. January 20, 2017 – Melbourne A man drives his car through Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall, killing six people and wounding at least 30 others. The incident wasn’t terror-related, and the driver of the vehicle has been charged with six counts of murder. December 19, 2016 – Berlin A truck ploughs into a crowded Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 56 others. July 14, 2016 – Nice A truck ploughs into Bastille Day revellers in the southern French city of Nice, killing 86 people.
– PA
Macron, whose nation has suffered some of Europe’s deadliest militant attacks in recent years, tweeted: ‘‘All my thoughts and France’s solidarity to the victims of the tragic attack in Barcelona.’’
US President Donald Trump said: ‘‘The United States condemns the terror attack in Barcelona, Spain, and will do whatever is necessary to help.’’ He added: ‘‘Be tough & strong, we love you!’’
A Vatican spokesman said Pope Francis was praying for the victims and wanted to express his closeness to all Spanish people, especially the victims and their families.
Authorities in Vic, a small town outside Barcelona, said a van had been found there in connection with the attack. Spanish media had earlier reported that a second van had been hired as a getaway vehicle.
Barcelona is the capital of the wealthy northeastern region of Catalonia, which plans to hold a popular vote on October 1 on whether it should secede from Spain. The central government says the vote cannot go ahead because it is unconstitutional.
Before yesterday’s attack, government data showed that police had arrested 11 suspected jihadists in the Barcelona area so far this year, more than anywhere else in Spain. – Reuters