American among Spain terror victims
BARCELONA, SPAIN The U.S. State Department said Friday that at least one American was killed and one was injured in the terrorist attacks in Spain.
A fourth person was arrested Friday and five suspects were shot dead after the van attack Thursday in Barcelona and the car attack in the resort of Cambrils that killed a total of 14 people and injured more than 100, authorities said. Catalan police tweeted, without providing further details, that a fourth person was arrested in connection with the two attacks.
The suspects in custody are three Moroccans and one Spaniard, none of them with terrorist backgrounds, the Associated Press reported.
Spanish police shot dead five people in Cambrils, a beach town south of Barcelona, early Friday in an incident thought to be linked to the van attack. Catalan regional police official Josep Lluis Trapero said a single police officer killed four of the suspects.
One person died in an explosion at a house in Alcanar on Wednesday night. Officials consider that incident linked to the others.
Authorities have been searching for Moussa Oukabir, an 18-year-old Moroccan, in connection with the van attack. An official with the union for Spain’s Civil Guard police force said, however, that he had been told Oukabir was among those killed by officers in Cambrils early Friday, AP reported.
Thousands of people, including King Felipe VI, gathered in Placa Cataluna, the main square in Barcelona’s center, for a minute of silence Friday. The tribute ended with long applause and a spontaneous chant: “No tinc por” — Catalan for “I’m not afraid.”
Police had said none of the three people arrested earlier was the driver of the white van that plowed through a pedestrian walkway in Las Ramblas, a street popular with tourists in Barcelona, killing 13 people Thursday. The Islamic State claimed responsibility.
The overall death toll rose to 14 Friday after a woman injured when a car plowed into pedestrians in Cambrils died. She has not been identified. The car overturned, and the attackers were shot by police when they exited, local media reported. Some of the suspects were carrying explosive belts, Spanish TV reported.