MASSACRE OF HOLIDAY FAMILIES
13 dead and 100 injured as van rams Barcelona tourists Two suspects held, one shot dead after ‘Islamic State’ attack Britons run for their lives amid appalling carnage
FAMILIES fled for their lives yesterday when suspected Islamic State extremists mowed down dozens in a hotspot for British holiday-makers.
Thirteen people are feared dead and 100 injured after a rented transit van was driven into crowds on Las Ramblas in Barcelona.
Broken bodies lay in pools of blood on the famous street, where shops, bars and restaurants are normally packed with tourists and locals.
Prams and toys lay among the carnage alongside tourists’ ‘selfie sticks’, discarded in the chaos as families fled the terror attack.
The van driver escaped on foot and armed police shut down large areas of the city centre amid fears he had barricaded himself into a restaurant.
Two suspects were arrested – one on the outskirts of the city where a Ford Focus ploughed through a police roadblock, prompting a shoot-out in which a man was killed. The atrocity echoed attacks in Westminster and
London Bridge in London, and other cities across Europe where terrorists have used vehicles as lethal weapons against innocent people.
Barcelona’s popularity prompted fears that Britons were among the casualties, and holiday-makers were ordered to stay in their hotels. In a day of horror:
Witnesses described how the driver deliberately zigzagged through crowds on Las Ramblas, intent on causing maximum carnage;
Security experts said the attack mimicked Islamist-inspired atrocities which have claimed more than 100 lives in Nice, Berlin, Stockholm and London;
Police said Moroccan-born Driss Oukabir – who called himself ‘The Madman’ on Facebook – rented the van used in the attack, but Oukabir says his identity was stolen;
One man was arrested, but it was not yet known if he was the van driver;
A second man was arrested after a Ford Focus smashed through a police roadblock on the outskirts of the city;
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the atrocity through its media arm;
Spanish police faced questions over missed chances to stop the attack, following claims the CIA warned officers two months ago that Las Ramblas was a terror target;
Jihadi terror manuals on using vehicles as a ‘tool of war’ for mass murder remained online last night.
Britain remains on ‘severe’ threat level for international terrorism. Police have identified 100 dangerous British jihadis who have returned to the UK from Syria.
Officials in Brussels confirmed one of the victims was a Belgian national.
Innocent families enjoying the shops and cafes of Las Ramblas were the unwitting target for the attack in Spain’s second city.
Parents grabbed their children and ran from the path of the white Fiat van, although it is thought at least two children were among the victims. Shaky mobile footage showed a child’s body lying motionless on the street, near a woman lying in a pool of blood.
Passers-by tended to the wounded until paramedics arrived, although some victims appeared beyond help and medics left them to focus on those who could be saved.
Scottish human rights lawyer and rector of Glasgow University Aamer Anwar was shopping for a souvenir for his son in Las Ramblas and told Sky News: ‘The place was jampacked with tourists, thousands and thousands of tourists.
‘All of a sudden I heard a crashing noise, screams, and it was almost like an avalanche –the whole street just started to run.
‘I saw a woman next to me screaming for her kids because she couldn’t see them… Everybody’s shaken and horrified.’
British holiday-maker Susan McLean said: ‘It was terrifying. All of a sudden people ran towards us, screaming hysterically.
‘Children were crying, some spoke English – they said that someone had been shot. Then a second wave of people came running down the street and we ran into a shop.
‘I lost my husband in the melee. It just went into lockdown.’
The rented Fiat van travelled 500 yards down the packed street, mowing down victims before eventually crashing into a kiosk selling souvenirs. The driver fled on foot and there were initial reports of gunfire in a nearby food market, La Boqueria, and that he and an accomplice had barricaded themselves inside a Turkish restaurant.
Armed police put the area into lockdown but later said the suspect was not holed up inside the restaurant.
Police said they had arrested a man over the attack and were treating him as a terrorism suspect, but refused to confirm if he was the van driver.
Spanish media reported that the man was Moroccan-born Oukabir, who calls himself ‘The Madman’ on his Facebook account. Police said Oukabir, 28, rented the van.
But a man calling himself Oukabir handed himself in at a police station at his hometown of Ripoll in Girona, 65 miles north of Barcelona, and said his identity documents had been stolen.
A second man was arrested after a Ford Focus car rammed through a police blockade on the outskirts of Barcelona, injuring two officers. Police shot and killed one man in the car and arrested a second man, although it was unclear if the incident was linked to the attack on Las Ramblas.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the atrocity, saying it was carried out by its ‘soldiers’, but gave no further detail. The terror network has previously claimed responsibility for attacks which were later found to have been carried out by fanatics brainwashed by its propaganda, but not directly linked to the group – including the Bastille Day attacker who killed 86 people in Nice, on the French Riviera.
Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the ‘terrible attack’, saying: ‘The UK stands with Spain against terror.’ She added: ‘I am sickened by the senseless loss of life in Barcelona today.
‘The Foreign Office is working to establish if any British nationals were involved in this appalling incident and we are in close contact with the authorities in Spain, who have our full support.’
Mrs May said: ‘Following the attacks in Manchester and London, Spain stood alongside the British people. Tonight, Britain stands with Spain against the evil of terrorism.’
Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy tweeted: ‘The terrorists will never defeat a united people who love liberty over barbarity.
‘All of Spain is with the victims and families.’
Former US president Barack Obama tweeted: ‘Michelle and I are thinking of the victims
‘The whole street just started to run’