Van killer in fake suicide vest shot dead in vineyard
THE terrorist who killed 13 on Las Ramblas was shot dead by police at a Spanish vineyard yesterday – wearing a fake explosive belt and carrying a bag of knives.
A woman called police after seeing a man that looked like van driver Younes Abouyaaqoub – who had been on the run since Thursday’s attack – acting suspiciously and wearing an ‘unusual amount’ of clothes given the heat.
The 22-year-old was found by two local officers crouching between vines shortly before 5pm. He opened his shirt to reveal a suicide belt and shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’, prompting them to open fire from 30ft.
Abouyaaqoub – the final member of the 12-strong terror cell at large – was found 28 miles from the scene of his deadly rampage, in Sant Sadurni d’Anoia, close to the Catalonian town of Subirats.
Earlier police chiefs had said the search was to be extended across Europe as they had no idea where the ‘armed and dangerous’ terrorist was.
Police were first alerted by a caller who spotted a suspicious person near the local train station before the daughter of a vineyard owner saw a man matching Abouyaaqoub’s description.
She told police a car had crossed their property at high speed even though the vineyard was closed off, and a man approached the house but ran away when she shouted to him. Roser Venura was told by officers to leave immediately as armed police and a helicopter were scrambled.
After the shooting, a bomb-disposal robot confirmed the belt was fake while the area was locked down amid fears more terrorists may have been in the car.
Arnau Gomez, who lives less than a mile away, called the village of 300 an ideal hideout as ‘it is far from everything’. He said: ‘In the hills there are many homes of seasonal workers, it’s easy to hide.’
Pictures emerged yesterday showing Abouyaaqoub strolling along Las Ramblas wearing sunglasses minutes after the attack.
It emerged that his two-ton Fiat van had stopped only when the airbag triggered, cutting the electrics – and undoubtedly saving lives.
Police said he then walked through the La Boqueria food market before crossing Barcelona and hijacking a car. He stabbed driver Pau Perez to death before putting the 34-year-old electrical engineer’s body in the back seat.
When he was attacked, Mr Perez had been on the phone to his family to reassure them he was okay after the Las Ramblas carnage.
Abouyaaqoub drove through a police roadblock at Sant Just Desvern, before the Ford Focus was found nearly two miles away at the side of the road.
It is not known where Abouyaaqoub, originally from Morocco, had been hiding since his escape or if associates had sheltered him.
Mr Perez’s death brings the total murdered by the terror cell to 15 – with 13 run down on Las Ramblas and a woman killed in the resort of Cambrils, 75 miles away.
Police say all members of the group are now believed to be accounted for, with five killed at Cambrils, four arrested and two found dead following an explosion at a ‘ bomb factory’ in Alcanar, south-west of Barcelona. It is believed the gang had plotted bigger van and bomb attacks but were forced to abandon their plans when the house exploded.
Detectives confirmed yesterday that imam Abdelbaki Es Satty – believed to have radicalised the group in Ripoll, close to the French border – was among those who died in the blast.
The four suspects arrested are due in court in Madrid today.
Abouyaaqoub’s family said he had become more pious in recent months, even refusing to shake hands with female relatives.
They said he went from drinking alcohol and visiting nightclubs to adorning his walls with verses from the Koran.
One of the terrorists shot dead at Cambrils left a suicide note apologising for what he was about to do. Said Aallaa, 18, wrote to his parents: ‘I want to apologise to the people who I may hurt in the upcoming days.
‘Thank you to everything that you have given me.’
Carrying a bag of knives