New Straits Times

BARCELONA ‘FUGITIVE’ SHOT DEAD BY COPS

Suspected van driver who killed 15 found in village 60km from city

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BARCELONA

POLICE yesterday shot dead a man who could be Younes Abouyaaqou­b, the suspected driver of a van that mowed down pedestrian­s here amid a massive manhunt for the Moroccan national described as dangerous and likely armed.

“They have shot dead a suspect who could be the perpetrato­r of the attack,” said a source close to the probe.

Regional police confirmed a man wearing what appeared to be a suicide belt had been killed in Subirats, a village 60km from here.

Bomb disposal units have been dispatched to the site.

Earlier, police had launched an appeal for informatio­n about the 22-year-old fugitive, believed to be the last remaining member of a 12-man cell suspected of plotting last week's deadly attacks.

The other suspects have been killed by police or detained.

Authoritie­s yesterday raised the death toll to 15, confirming that Pau Perez, a 34-year-old man found stabbed to death in a Ford Focus outside here on Friday, was killed by Abouyaaqou­b.

The police had fired at the car as it forced its way through a checkpoint shortly after the Barcelona carnage, and later found Perez in the vehicle.

Investigat­ors believe the victim was the owner of the car, which was hijacked by Abouyaaqou­b to make his getaway.

Describing Abouyaaqou­b as around 1.8m tall, police tweeted four photograph­s of the man with short black hair, including three pictures in which he was wearing a black and white striped T-shirt.

He is “dangerous and could be armed”, police in Catalonia said.

Spanish authoritie­s were also officially notifying European police of the identity of the suspect to enable the launch of a Europewide manhunt. AFP Cheerleade­rs using solar viewing glasses before welcoming guests to the football stadium to watch the total solar eclipse at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, yesterday. A total solar eclipse is sweeping across the United States for the first time in 99 years. The ‘Great American Eclipse’, as it is being called, will move diagonally across the country, northwest to southeast, providing a spectacula­r solar show.

 ?? AFP PIC ?? Policemen and medical staff standing near where Moroccan suspect Younes Abouyaaqou­b was shot yesterday.
AFP PIC Policemen and medical staff standing near where Moroccan suspect Younes Abouyaaqou­b was shot yesterday.
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