| Series Title | Catalan News |
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| Series Details | 18.08.17 |
| Publication Date | 17/08/2017 |
| Content Type | News |
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Terrorism hit Catalonia on the 17 August 2017. At least 13 people were killed and 100 were injured, 15 critically, after a van crashed into the crowds in la Rambla, Barcelona, Spain at approximately 17:00 on the 17 August 2017. Catalan police took two people in custody, a man from Morocco and another one from Melilla. Neither of them was the driver of the van, who fled the scene on foot. Hours later, six civilians and one police officer were injured during a second attack in Cambrils, a coastal town 120km from the Catalan capital (One person subsequently died). Catalan police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, shot down and killed five alleged terrorists. Police confirmed them to be amongst the suspects of the earlier attack in Barcelona. The terrorist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, as reported by its news agency, Amaq. Catalonia declared three days of mourning. A one-minute period of silence to remember all the victims was held in the Plaça de Catalunya, near la Rambla, on the 18 August 2017. Catalan, Spanish, European and world leaders condemned the attacks. During the previous year there had been similar lorry attacks in other European cities including Nice, London, Stockholm, Paris and Berlin. In a separate incident, but what the police thought was linked to the incidents in Barcelona and Cambrils, there had been an explosion in a flat in the Catalan town of Alcanar on the 16 August 2017. Police said they thought the occupants had been preparing an explosive. Subsequently, security forces said that a 12-man jihadist cell had been operating unknown that had been planning a major bomb attack before an accidental explosion forced a change of plans. The cell was allegedly led by an imam Abdelbaki Es Satty. By the 20 August 2017 police were saying that it was thought that the driver of the van in Barcelona was thought to be a Moroccan national called Younes Abouyaaqoub. He was still free and on the run or in hiding. It was announced by the Catalan police on the 21 August 2017 that he had killed by them in the Catalan municipality of Subirats. It was also announced that the driver of a van hijacked by Younes Abouyaaqou on the 17 August 2017 had died of stab wounds bringing the total number of victims of the incidents to 15. |
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| Source Link | http://www.catalannews.com/society-science/item/barcelona-and-cambrils-attacks-what-we-know-so-far |
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| Subject Categories | Security and Defence |
| Countries / Regions | Spain |
