Van Hits Crowd in Barcelona Terror Attack, Kills 13…

Thirteen people have been killed, and at least 50 injured, after a white a white Fiat van ploughed into pedestrians in Barcelona’s famous Las Ramblas tourist area late Thursday afternoon.

The vehicle sped along the centre of the 1km-long boulevard, which is usually swarming with people and sent many fleeing for cover in shops and cafes, until it hit a newspaper kiosk and stopped.

Witnesses said the van had deliberately targeted people before coming to a stop while television pictures showed people lying on the ground with the crashed van that had stopped on top of a Joan Míro mosaic halfway down the boulevaard.

Spanish newspaper El Pais newspaper said the driver of the vehicle had fled on foot after mowing down dozens of people, as the police described the incident as a terror attack.

According to Spanish media reports, one or two armed men barricaded themselves inside a bar in the area after the attack.

Scores of people were sheltered in a church near the scene of the attack, while many hid in shops and restaurants.

Meanwhile, police in Catalonia, where Barcelona is located, tweeted that they have arrested a man while releasing a photograph of a man, identified as Driss Oubakir, who was alleged to have rented the van used in the attack.

Pandemonium, according to eyewitnesses who spoke to the BBC, reigned at the scene of the attack.

Tom Markwell from New Orleans, who was just arriving in a taxi in Las Ramblas, told the BBC: “I heard a crowd screaming. It sounded like they were screaming for a movie star.

“I saw the van. It had already been busted on the front. It was weaving left and right, trying to hit people as fast as possible. There were people lying on the ground.”

Aamer Anwar, who said he was walking down the “jam- packed” Las Ramblas, told Sky News: “All of a sudden, I just sort of heard a crashing noise and the whole street just started to run, screaming. I saw a woman right next to me screaming for her kids. Police were very, very quickly there, police officers with guns, batons, everywhere. Then the whole street started getting pushed back. Police officers who got there just started screaming at people to move back, move back.”