Barcelona jihad driver shot dead

THE DRIVER who plowed a van into a crowd of tourists in a deadly terrorist attack in Barcelona was shot and killed by Spanish police Monday.

The jihadi, Younes Abouyaaqoub, was killed in a vineyard in Subirats, west of Barcelona. Cops used a robot to remove what turned out to be a fake explosive belt from his body before they could make a positive identification.

The suspect also had knives in his possession when he was shot, police said. Police said he opened his shirt to reveal the belt, and shouted “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” in Arabic, before he was shot.

A woman had seen Abouyaaqoub (inset) at a train station nearby, recognized him from police photos and alerted authorities. She became suspicious because the man was wearing long sleeves despite the 85-degree weather.

Abouyaaqoub, a 22-year-old Moroccan national, was believed to have been the sole driver of the van used to kill 13 people Thursday on Las Ramblas, a thoroughfare that’s a popular tourist destination. More than 100 others were injured.

Abouyaaqoub had been the subject of an intense manhunt for days.

Abouyaaqoub managed to flee in the chaotic aftermath by stabbing a man to death, dumping his body in the back seat of his Ford Focus and stealing the car, according to reports. Minutes later, he plowed through a police checkpoint with the stolen car and abandoned the vehicle, disappearing into the night.

Catalonia regional police linked the rampage to a 12-member extremist cell.

Four are under arrest, and eight are dead: five shot by police in the seaside town of Cambrils, where a second van attack left one pedestrian dead early Friday; two others killed on the eve of the Barcelona attack in a botched bomb-making operation; and Abouyaaqoub.

ISIS claimed responsibility for both attacks.

According to reports, Abouyaaqoub rented three vans before the pedestrian attack. It’s believed his cell initially had plans for a larger attack on the city using the explosives that detonated prematurely.