Attempted knife attack treated as “terrorist” act, say Catalan police

The attempted knife attack in a police station on Monday early morning is being treated as a "terrorist attack," said the Catalan police in the afternoon, some six hours after the events.

According to the corps, the individual, of Algerian origin, went to the Mossos d'Esquadra police station in Cornellà de Llobregat just before 6am. Carrying a knife of "considerable size," he leaped on the officer who opened the door with "clear intention" to kill members of the Mossos d'Esquadra, said an official in a press conference.

During his failed attack, the man, 29, living in Cornellà de Llobregat, mentioned Allah and something else unintelligible for the officer.

The official also explained that, as a way to safe their own life, the officer used their gun to shoot him down.

The Catalan police has called an antiterrorist coordination meeting for this evening in order to "take the measures needed." Yet the corps has already asked all security forces in Catalonia to increase the protection of their officers. The Catalan president, Quim Torra, chaired the meeting. 

The Catalan home affairs ministry said in the evening after the meeting that it had been an “isolated incident.”

The Catalan police raided the flat where the assailant was living, barely 200 meters far from the police station, and left with some plastic bags, but did not reveal their content. 

The police has not found any criminal record for the assailant yet, but it is already checking whether he had any record in Spain or elsewhere.