13 dead in Barcelona terror strike
ISIS claims credit as van mows down many pedestrians
BARCELONA, Spain — A van veered onto a sidewalk and barreled down a busy pedestrian zone Thursday in Barcelona’s picturesque Las Ramblas district, swerving from side to side as it mowed down tourists and residents and turned the popular European vacation promenade into a bloody killing zone. Thirteen people were killed and 100 were injured, 15 of them seriously, in what authorities called a terror attack.
Victims were l eft sprawled in the street, spattered with blood or crippled by broken limbs. Others fled in panic, screaming or carrying young children in their arms.
“It was clearly a terror attack, intended to kill as many people as possible,” Josep Lluis Trapero, a senior police official, told a news conference l ate Thursday.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility, saying in a statement on its Aamaq news agency that the attack was carried out by “soldiers of the Islamic State” in response to the extremist group’s calls for followers to target countries participating in the coalition trying to drive it from Syria and Iraq.
Hours later, police said they had shot and killed several people south of Barcelona while carrying out an operation in response to the terrorist attack.
The regional police for Three people react to an attack in Barcelona in which a van was driven onto the Las Ramblas pedestrian walk. Catalonia said on Twitter early Friday that officers are in Cambrils, a seaside resort town about 62 miles from Barcelona.
They called on people in the town not to go out on the streets.
Spain’s public broadcaster, RTVE, reported that regional police killed four people and wounded another.
The broadcaster says police suspected they were planning an attack in Cambrils just hours after the Barcelona attack.
Authorities said a Belgian was among the dead and a Greek woman was among the injured in Barcelona. Germany’s Foreign Min- istry said it was checking reports that Germans were among the victims.
After the afternoon attack, Las Ramblas went into lockdown. Swarms of police brandishing handguns and automatic weapons launched a manhunt in the downtown district, ordering stores and cafes and public transport to shut down.
Several hours later, authorities reported two arrests, one a Spanish national from Melilla, a seafront enclave in North Africa, and the other a Moroccan.
But Trapero said neither of them was the van’s driver. The arrests took place in the northern Catalan town of Ripoll and in Alcanar, the site of a gas explosion at a house Wednesday night. Police said they were investigating a possible link to Thursday’s attack.
Thursday’s bloodshed was the country’s deadliest attack since 2004, when al-Qaida-inspired bombers killed 192 people in coordinated assaults on Madrid’s commuter trains.
Las Ramblas is a wide avenue of stalls and shops that cuts through the center of Barcelona and is one of the city’s top tourist destinations. It features a pedestrian-only walkway in the center while cars can travel on either side.
A taxi driver who wit- nessed Thursday’s attack, Oscar Cano, said the white van suddenly jumped the curb and sped down the central pedestrian area at a high speed for about 500 yards, veering from side to side as it targeted people.
“I heard a lot of people screaming and then I saw the van going down the boulevard,” another witness, Miguel Angel Rizo, told The Associated Press. “You could see all the bodies lying through Las Ramblas. It was brutal. A very tough image to see.”
Jordi Laparra, a 55-yearold physical education teacher and Barcelona resident, said it initially looked like a traffic accident.
“At first I thought it was an accident, as the van crashed into 10 people or so and seemed to get stuck. But then he maneuvered left and accelerated full speed down the Ramblas and I realized it was a terrorist attack. He zigzagged from side to side into the kiosks, pinning as many people as he could, so they had no escape,” Laparra said.
Tamara Jurgen, a visitor from the Netherlands who arrived in Barcelona hours before the attack, said she and a friend were inside a clothing store steps from the scene. They were held inside until police swept the block.
“We were downstairs when it happened and everyone was screaming and running. We had to run up to the roof and throw our bags over a wall,” Jurgen said.
Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau announced a minute of silence to be held Friday in Barcelona’s main square “to show that we are not scared.”
Leaders around the world offered their support after the attack.
President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter: “The United States condemns the terror attack in Barcelona, Spain, and will do whatever is necessary to help. Be tough & strong, we love you!”
British Prime Minister Theresa May said the U.K. “stands with Spain against terror” while French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted Thursday evening: “All my thoughts and solidarity from France for the victims of the tragic attack in Barcelona. We will remain united and determined.”