Details of the Barcelona Rampage Released by the Catalonian Police

(photo: https://pixabay.com/en/spain-flag-flutter-spanish-cabrera-379535/)
By Faith MagbanuaAugust 18th, 2017

On Friday, the police has released new details regarding the brutal carnage that occurred in Barcelona on Thursday.

According to the Catalonian police reports, it said that "the suspects in the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils were plotting one or more bigger bouts than those that were carried out."

It also noted that the alleged suspect, 18 year old Moussa Oukabir, has been behind the attack that happened in Barcelona this Thursday.

Reports from Catalonia's police chief said that the blasts in a town south of Barcelona on Wednesday deprived the plotters of bomb material, forcing them to carry out "simpler attacks" using vehicles to ram crowds.

A total of thirteen people died during the attack in Las Ramblas while other civilians were injured as a van driver zig-zagged along the famous tourist street.

The alleged suspect Oukabir is suspected of using his brother's documents to rent the van that mowed down people on the famous boulevard.

Meanwhile, five suspected jihadists were killed by the police in a second vehicular attack in the town of Cambrils injuring a woman who later on died from the attack.

According to the Police, the men killed in Cambrils were linked to the Barcelona attack, which the Islamic State (IS) group said it had carried out.

On the other hand, the Prime Minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy condemned what he called a "jihadist attack" in Barcelona. He has announced three days of national mourning and a minute's silence was held at noon (10:00 GMT) on Friday.

Police say that they are currently investigating a theory that the attacks were being prepared over a substantial period of time in a private house in Alcanar, a small town located south of Barcelona.

The explosions ripped through the building on Wednesday evening, apparently caused by exploding gas canisters killing one person during the event.

According to the Barcelona Police, more explosives were being prepared for the other "attacks".

Josep Lluis Trapero, Catalan Police Chief, said that the actual attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils were "rudimentary" in comparison.

Later on, Trapero said that it was suspected that the driver of the Barcelona van was one of the five killed in Cambrils, though it was not clear whether Moussa Oukabir was the one driving.

Spanish media say Moussa Oukabir rented two vans, the one used in the attack and another found hours later in the town of Vic, north of Barcelona, which was intended as a getaway vehicle.

On the other hand, Driss Oukabir, brother of Moussa Oukabir was arrested after reportedly turning himself in on Thursday.

The reports suggest Driss, who is in his 20s and was born in Morocco, told the police that he was not involved and that his documents had been stolen.

Meanwhile, three other arrests have been made and two of the men are Moroccan, and the third was born in Melilla, the autonomous Spanish city on the north coast of Africa.

Police said three of the arrests were made in the Catalan town of Ripoll and one in Alcanar after Wednesday's explosions. The age of the men who were arrested are 21, 27, 28 and 34 years old respectively.

 

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