Monsters smiled on day of terror
Three jihadis who were shot dead in a Spanish resort town after last week’s attack in Barcelona were caught by security cameras shopping with smiles on their faces the day of the massacre.
The three terrorists, along with two accomplices, visited the gas station in the coastal town of Cambrils, south of Barcelona, several times before the two Aug. 17 attacks, which killed 14 people and left more than 120 injured.
The Catalan newspaper Ara obtained the footage, which shows Omar Hychami, Barcelona killer Younes Abouyaaqoub’s brother, Houssaine, and Moussa Oukabir.
Hychami stopped by the store at 4 p.m. local time, hours before Abouyaaqoub’s van attack, which claimed 13 lives on Barcelona’s tourist-packed Las Ramblas promenade.
But Hychami had been involved in a highway collision before the visit that may have forced the terrorists to change their plans for a second time.
In the first disruption, authorities suspect an accidental blast at their safe house destroyed much of their explosives, which they had hoped to use in a far deadlier strike.
After the attack in Barcelona, Houssaine was seen on surveillance video at the store as he bought credit for his cellphone, the UK Telegraph reported.
During a later visit, he and his two other cohorts appeared to be relaxed as they bought lighters before heading off to Cam- brils, where they bought knives and an ax for their planned attack.
Hychami visited the store once again three hours before the 1 a.m. assault in Cambrils, to buy two loaves of bread, tortillas and soft drinks for what may have been their final meal.
One woman was killed and six people were injured when the terrorists drove their car onto a Cambrils promenade and stabbed several tourists before being shot dead by cops.