Barcelona death toll rises to 14; Spanish police shoot five suspects dead

By
Reuters
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The death toll could rise, with more than 100 injured, authorities said

BARCELONA: The death toll in a double attack in Spain rose to 14, emergency services said Friday, as the country reeled from the two vehicle rampages that saw drivers plough into pedestrians in Barcelona and Cambrils, another seaside town.

The emergency services said a woman injured in the Cambrils attack has died, bringing the total to 14 in both attacks.

Spain launched a sweeping anti-terrorism operation on Friday, shooting dead five would-be attackers after a suspected militant drove a van into crowds in Barcelona.

Daesh said the perpetrators had been responding to its call for action by carrying out Thursday´s rampage along Barcelona´s most famous avenue, which was thronged with holiday-makers enjoying an afternoon stroll at the peak of the tourist season.

Bodies, many motionless, were left strewn across the avenue and authorities said the toll of dead, which included several children, could rise, with more than 100 injured.

Hours later in the early hours of Friday, as security forces hunted for the van´s driver, police said they killed five attackers in Cambrils, a town south of Barcelona, to thwart a separate attack using explosive belts.

Details of the Cambrils incident, which police linked to the Barcelona attack, were still sketchy.

But police said six civilians and a police officer were injured when the attackers ran them over in a car, before police shot them dead and carried out controlled explosions.

Authorities later said the explosive belts were fake.

Police said the Cambrils incident was linked to the van attack in Barcelona.

Before the van ploughed into the tree-lined walkway of Las Ramblas, one person was killed in an explosion in a house in a separate town southwest of Barcelona, police said.

Residents there were preparing explosives, a police source added.

Police said they had arrested a Moroccan and a man from Spain´s north African enclave of Melilla, though neither was the van driver.

A third man was arrested in the town of Ripoll on Friday in connection with the attack.

It was still not clear how many people had been involved in the van attack and other incidents on Thursday. Witnesses to the van attack said the white vehicle had zigzagged at high speed down Las Ramblas, ramming pedestrians and cyclists, sending some hurtling through the air and leaving bodies strewn in its wake.

The injured and dead came from 24 different countries, the Catalan government said on Friday in a statement, ranging from France and Germany to Pakistan and the Philippines.

Spanish media said several children were killed.

British tourist Keith Welling, who arrived in Barcelona on Wednesday with his wife and 9-year-old daughter, said they saw the van drive past them down the avenue and took refuge in a restaurant when panic broke out and the crowd started running.

"People were shouting and we heard a bang and someone cried that it was a gunshot ... Me and my family ran into the restaurant along with around 40 other people.

"At first people were going crazy in there, lots of people crying, including a little girl around three years old."

It was the deadliest attack in Spain since March 2004, when militants placed bombs on commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people and wounding more than 1,800.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced three days of official mourning.

The Spanish royal household said on Twitter: “They are murderers, nothing more than criminals who are not going to terrorise us. All of Spain is Barcelona.

Bodies on the ground

Police said the two men detained on Thursday had been arrested in two towns, Ripoll and Alcanar, both in the region of Catalonia, of which Barcelona is the capital.

The explosion was also in the town of Alcanar, in the early hours of Thursday.

One person died and another was injured in that incident, police said.

Police said they also shot dead on Thursday a man who had driven a car into a police checkpoint in Barcelona, though they had no evidence he was connected with the van attack.

Mobile phone footage showed several bodies strewn along the Ramblas, some motionless. Paramedics and bystanders bent over them, treating them and trying to comfort those still conscious. Around them, the boulevard was deserted, strewn with rubbish and abandoned objects including hats, flip-flops and a pram.

Site of the attack was cordoned off by security officials  

German television channel ZDF reported that three Germans were among those killed, and Belgium´s foreign minister said a Belgian was among the dead.

France said 26 of its citizens were hurt, and 11 of them were in a serious condition.

Australia said at least four of its nationals were injured, and Italy three.

Regional head Carles Puigdemont said people had been flocking to hospitals in Barcelona to give blood.

Susana Elvira Carolina, 33, who works at a shop on Las Ramblas, had just entered her building when the van struck.

"We had a window and you could see the bodies lying from there, you could see how people were run over ... We were shutting down the blinds but people kept coming in and we had to keep it open so they could enter the shop."

Tourist draw

The atmosphere on Las Ramblas was subdued on Friday morning, as media crews mingled with tourists.

Police tape cordoned off some areas of the avenue.

The incident took place at the height of the tourist season in Barcelona, which is one of Europe´s top travel destinations with at least 11 million visitors a year.

Authorities in Vic, a small town outside Barcelona, said a van had been found there in connection with the attack.

Spanish media had earlier reported that a second van had been hired as a getaway vehicle.

Barcelona is the capital of the wealthy northeastern region of Catalonia, which plans to hold a popular vote on Oct. 1 on whether it should secede from Spain.

The central government says the vote cannot go ahead because it is unconstitutional.

Before Thursday´s attack, government data showed that police had arrested 11 suspected militants in the Barcelona area so far this year, more than anywhere else in Spain.