Terrorists planned cathedral massacre
Explosion foils sickening ‘mother of Satan’ plot
THE terrorists who brought carnage to the streets of Barcelona were also planning to blow up the city’s famous cathedral with a bomb nicknamed “the mother of Satan”.
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 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 22- year-old Moroccan national, Youn es Abouyaaqoub, now Europe’s most wanted man.
Detectives believe he fled the 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 Syria and people are either unable to get out there to fight for Isis and so they look to do something at home, or also because people have come back and tried to inspire people with their stories and tales of the caliphate.”
In Barcelona yesterday, meanwhile, people were struggling to come to terms with the fact their beloved sunshine city has joined an infamous list of metropolitan areas to be targeted by marauding murderers.
People queued to sign a book of condolence at one of the city’s municipal buildings and to remember the people from 34 different countries caught up in the attack.
Among those caught up in the maelstrom of violence was Britishborn Julian Cadman, who moved to Sydney from Kent three years ago.
Hopes were briefly raised yesterday when it was reported the sevenyear- old had been found safe and well in a hospital.
But Spanish police later insisted those reports were false.
A man who stayed by the side of Julian’s mum after she was mowed down has revealed how she begged for information about her missing son.
Pharmacist Fouad Bakkali comforted injured Jumarie Cadman on the floor of his Las Ramblas pharmacy.
“I was with the mother, the Australian mother, until the doctor came,’ Mr Bakkali said.
“I was at her side helping her, telling her, “be calm, don’t worry.”’
“She was asking all the time about her little boy. She asked me ‘where is my son’. She told me he was seven years old.”
Mr Bakkali said he was working behind the counter in the pharmacy when he heard a loud bang, before people started running for cover in his shop.
He said Ms Cadman appeared to be suffering two broken legs and had a large head wound. He waited with her until paramedics arrived.