Barcelona Attack Perpetrator Intended to Use Mined Van During Attack

They shot and killed five people early Friday who were wearing fake bomb belts as they attacked the seaside resort of Cambrils with a speeding auto.

King Felipe VI and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, along with Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont, stood in front of the crowd in Placa de Cataluyna during the remembrance. “We are not afraid!” the crowd chanted in Catalan and Spanish.

Security forces were mobilized following a deadly terrorist attack Thursday afternoon, where authorities say a jihadist used a van to target people in one of the Catalonia capital’s most popular streets and managed to escape the scene by foot.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by “soldiers of the Islamic State”. A woman later died in hospital. She has not been identified.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said it is “aware of the case” of the four Irish citizens. It was also reported that the attackers abandoned the van and fled the scene.

Seven people were injured in the attack in Cambrils, 75 miles south of Barcelona, including one police officer.

An EU police official confirmed to BuzzFeed News that Spanish police were seeking Moussa Oukabir, believed to be either 17 or 18, for questioning about the attacks.

“I understand the debate, but this is not practical. we can’t fill up Barcelona with bollards“, Joaquim Forn, who runs home affairs in Catalonia, told Spanish radio. Driss Oukabir, the first suspect to be named and the third to be arrested (in the northern Barcelona town of Ripoll), reportedly told police that his ID documentation was stolen before he could use it to rent the van.

The five suspected terrorists were shot dead after they drove into pedestrians in what appeared to be the country’s second terror attack in 24 hours. They’ve linked the attack in Las Ramblas and the attack in Cambrils to an earlier explosion that took place in Alcanar, destroying a house.

One person died and another was injured in that incident, police said. The vehicle overturned and the attackers were shot by police when they exited.

A police spokesman said he could not confirm any deaths or that the incident on Thursday was being treated as terrorism.

The attack in Barcelona marks the deadliest in Spain since 2004, when al Qaeda-inspired militants detonated bombs on Madrid’s subway system, killing 191 and injuring more than 1,800.

But the perpetrator of Barcelona van attack has not yet identified. A police vehicle was damaged and an officer was among the six people injured.

Belgium’s Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said on Twitter a Belgian national was among those killed in Barcelona. A number of Germans are also understood to have been hurt. Spain received more than 75 million foreign visitors past year and tourism is a key provider of jobs. It initially created its disaster response tool in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which left more than 100,000 people homeless in the New York City area.

The police have confirmed that the perpetrator of the Barcelona attack had meant to use a bomb in the van, local media reported Friday. Police eventually caught up with five of the terrorist suspects and shot them.