Fourth person arrested in relation to Barcelona attack

A fourth person has just been arrested in relation to the Barcelona attack yesterday in La Rambla, ACN learned. The detention, in the northern town of Ripoll, has come after the Catalan home affairs minister, Joaquim Forn, announced this morning that a third person had been arrested in the same town.

The police is looking for another suspect, named Moussa Oukabir, and three other young people of between 17 and 24 years old: Said Aallaa, Mohamed Hychami and Younes Abouyaaqoub. 

Meanwhile, officers took down five suspected terrorists in a vehicle in the middle of the night in Cambrils, on the southern Catalan coast, Forn said. The car had run over some people in the town’s maritime promenade, leaving six people injured. One of them died this early morning in a Tarragona hospital, authorities confirmed. The death toll from both attacks is now 14.

Four suspects missing

After two people were arrested yesterday evening in relation to the attack, another person was detained this morning amid the uproar of around 50 neighbors. According to the Catalan police, the person under arrest is a friend of one of the people arrested yesterday. The officers registered the flat where the third arrested person lived and took some boxes with documents. Meanwhile, the police is also looking for another suspect, named Moussa Oukabir. His brother, Driss Oukabir, was also arrested in Ripoll yesterday after going to the local police station to report that Moussa had stolen his papers. The three other suspects Said Aallaa, Mohamed Hychami and Younes Abouyaaqoub also lived in Ripoll and Ribes de Freser, a town nearby. Police released their pictures. 

Incident involving car skipping checkpoint in Barcelona

The Catalan home affairs minister also informed that the police reported an incident on a westbound exit out of Barcelona involving a car which tried to skip a checkpoint. Officers chased the vehicle for several kilometers and there was some gunfire involved. The police found the car stopped on a road on the outskirts of Barcelona, Sant Joan Despí, a few minutes later with a dead man inside in the passenger seat.

However, he had not been killed by the shots, but rather by a sharp weapon. It is suspected that another person involved with the attacks was driving and escaped before the officers reached the vehicle. The dead person was the owner of the car. Nevertheless, Forn also made clear that this incident could have been something “absolutely unrelated” to La Rambla attack. “We can see a connection between Barcelona, Ripoll, Cambrils and Alcanar, but we cannot say the same thing regarding what happened at this checkpoint,” he said. Ripoll and Alcanar are the towns where two people were arrested.

Butane gas bottles in southern Catalonia investigated

In Alcanar, in southern Catalonia, a house collapsed after some butane gas bottles exploded on Wednesday evening. It is under investigation whether the attackers were planning to use the butane gas bottles for the Barcelona attack. While handling them in Alcanar, though, they exploded, and this could have accelerated the events on La Rambla. Two people have been confirmed dead in the blast, according to police. 

Second terrorist attack in Cambrils leaving one dead

Another point of attention in the past few hours is Cambrils, where a car with five people inside ran through a police control and hit agents and pedestrians in the middle of the night. Six civilians were injured, one of whom died some hours later, while a police officer was also taken to the hospital with less severe injuries. Officers from the Mossos d'Esquadra took down the alleged terrorists, who were confirmed to be among the suspects of the attack in Barcelona.

La Rambla opens again

In the wake of the event, La Rambla bouvelard is open again to the public this morning, after being closed since yesterday at 5pm. Plaça Catalunya (Catalunya Square), a few meters from the point where the van started running over people, held a minute of silence, with the Catalan president, the mayor of Barcelona, and the Spanish president and king.