SPANISH TERROR
THE terror cell responsible for attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils has been dismantled – but a manhunt for one suspect is ongoing, Spanish authorities have said.
At a press conference yesterday Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido declared police have broken the “terrorist cell from Barcelona” – after he said five members were killed, four were in detention and as many as two were killed in an explosion.
He said no new attacks were imminent, that they will be maintaining the country’s terrorist threat alert at level four, and security at popular events and tourist sites around the country will be reinforced.
Catalan Police spokesman Albert Oliva later confirmed a manhunt is under way for any remaining members of the Islamic extremist cell, with the search focused on Younes Abouyaaqoub, a 22-year-old Moroccan.
He said officers have carried out nine searches of properties in Ripoll, the northern Catalan town where Abouyaaqoub and other suspects lived.
Abouyaaqoub has been named in Spanish media as the suspected driver of the van, which was used in the massacre on Las Ramblas that left 13 dead and nearly 130 injured.
On Friday it emerged that another suspect Moussa Oukabir, who is thought to have rented the van, was among five men shot dead as they launched a second attack in the coastal town of Cambrils.
The teenager, said to be 17 or 18 years old, is suspected of using his brother’s documents to hire the vehicle that ploughed through pedestrians in the tourist hotspot on Thursday evening.
He reportedly died along with Said Aallaa, 19, and Mohamed Hychami, 24, who were part of a group that mounted a similar attack in Cambrils that left one woman dead and six people injured.
The identities of the other two dead jihadists are yet to be confirmed by police.
Four men, aged 21, 27, 28 and 34, who were arrested in connection with the attack remain in custody.
Three are Moroccan and one Spanish, and police said none of them was previously known to the security services for terror-related reasons.
Moussa Oukabir’s older brother, Driss Oukabir, is reported to be one of those detained.