The
Islamic state has claimed responsibility for the killing of 13 persons,
when a van ploughed through a crowd in a busy Barcelona tourist
district today. About 100 people were injured in the incident.
ISIS
made the claim via Amaq News Agency, as two men were arrested, just as
Catalan Police also confirmed the attack as terrorism.
One
of those arrested is thought to include the driver of the van used in
the attack, while Spanish media have also published a picture of a man
police sources say rented the van.
Authorities named him as Driss Oukabir, a 28-year-old born in Morocco who lives in Catalunya.
Security sources told El Pais that Oukabir had recently visited Morocco and arrived back in Barcelona earlier this week.
Witnesses
said the white van zigzagged at high speed down Las Ramblas, a busy
avenue thronged with tourists, knocking down pedestrians and leaving
bodies strewn across the ground.
Islamic
State’s Amaq news agency said: “The perpetrators of the Barcelona
attack are soldiers of the Islamic State and carried out the operation
in response to calls for targeting coalition states” – a reference to a
U.S.-led coalition against the Sunni militant group.
If
the involvement of Islamist militants is confirmed, it would be the
latest in a string of attacks in the past 13 months in which they have
used vehicles to bring carnage to the streets of European cities.
That
modus operandi – crude, deadly and very hard to prevent – has killed
well over 100 people in Nice, Berlin, London and Stockholm.
Witness
Tom Gueller told the BBC: “I heard screams and a bit of a crash and
then I just saw the crowd parting and this van going full pelt down the
middle of the Ramblas and I immediately knew that it was a terrorist
attack or something like that.
“It wasn’t slowing down at all. It was just going straight through the middle of the crowds,” he added.
It
was the deadliest attack in Spain since March 2004, when Islamist
militants placed bombs on commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people
and wounding more than 1,800.
Spanish
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Twitter he was en route to
Barcelona. “Maximum coordination to arrest the attackers, reinforce
security and attend to all those affected,” he said.
The
Spanish royal household said on Twitter: “They are murderers, nothing
more than criminals who are not going to terrorize us. All of Spain is
Barcelona. Las Ramblas will go back to being everyone’s.”
U.S.
President Donald Trump said: “The United States condemns the terror
attack in Barcelona, Spain, and will do whatever is necessary to help.”
He added: “Be tough & strong, we love you!”
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