Terrorists planned cathedral massacre
Police believe the group intended to blow up a gas- filled van at the world famous Sagrada Familia, visited by thousands every day and designed by Antoni Gaudi.
But the outrageous death plot was foiled when the terrorists’ “mother of Satan” gas canisters exploded at a safe house in Alcanar, 120 miles south-west of Barcelona, killing two of their group.
The deadly canisters earned their sinister nickname due to the fact they are highly susceptible to accidental detonation.
Investigators found traces of triacetone triperoxide, an explosive known as TATP, favoured by IS bomb- makers, in the ruins of the terror gang’s bomb factory.
The discovery supports claims by Spanish police that they intended to murder hundreds in a terrorist “spectacular”.
Catalan regional police official Josep Lluis Trapero said: “We think they were preparing at least one or more attacks in Barcelona.”
It emerged last night that police were investigating an Islamic preacher’s possible role in the Barcelona massacre.
They were carrying out a fingertip search of a flat linked to the cleric for samples of DNA and fingerprints to verify whether he was killed at the “Mother of Satan” bomb lair.
Detectives believe the 45-year-old religious figure may have played a key role in radicalising the young men who planned and carried out the atrocity.
Terror came to the popular tourist destination when a white van was
Hassan Zubier.
The terrorists aimed to detonate a bomb at Sagrada Familia. driven into crowds in Las Ramblas – Barcelona’s famous thoroughfare – on Thursday afternoon, killing 13 and leaving more than 100 injured. Around eight hours later, an Audi A3 car ploughed into pedestrians in the seaside town of Cambrils, 68 miles south-west of Barcelona.
Spanish police chiefs now believe the terror cell responsible for the wave of attacks has been dismantled – but the manhunt for one remaining suspect continues.
Police hunting for the Las Ramblas van driver are focusing their efforts on 2 2 - y e a r- o l d Mo r o c c a n national, Yo u n e s Abouyaaqoub, now Europe’s most wanted man.
Detectives believe he fled the A BRITISH man injured helping victims of a suspected terror attack in Finland insisted last night: “I am not a hero.”
Two Finnish women were killed and seven people, including Hassan Zubier, were wounded in the knife rampage in the city of Turku, 90 miles west of the capital Helsinki.
Mr Zubier, a Kent-born paramedic scene of the atrocity on the Barcelona Metro before stabbing a man to death, stealing his car and smashing through a police checkpoint. It has since emerged a man previously identified as the key suspect, Moussa Oukabir, 17, was killed in a hail of bullets along with Said Aallaa, 18, and Mohamed Hychami, 24, in the “second wave” Cambrils attack, which claimed the life of an innocent woman.
The would-be attackers were slain by a solo Spanish police officer who has been hailed a hero.
Last night, UK security minister Ben Wallace warned the terror threat was rising. He said: “I think the threat is still increasing, partly driven by the fact Isis is collapsing in