Spanish police have shot dead the main suspect in last Thursday's Barcelona attack, Younes Abouyaaqoub. Police believe he was the driver of a van which careered down the Las Ramblas avenue, killing 13 and injuring more than 100 others. He was killed some 25 miles (40km) west of Barcelona near a sewage treatment works following a tip off.
Abouyaaqoub, wearing a fake explosive belt, is reported to have shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Greatest"). An extensive manhunt was already under way when police closed in on the Subirats area, close to Sant Sadurní d'Anoia.
A petrol station employee spotted Abouyaaqoub and called the police who found him hiding in vineyards. After he was shot, bomb disposal officers used a robot to examine the fake explosive belt. This led to some delay before Moroccan-born Abouyaaqoub could be officially identified.
Local residents described seeing some 20 police cars heading for the scene and helicopters circling. Police said the investigation was still international in scope. At an earlier news conference, police described Abouyaaqoub's escape from the scene of the Barcelona attack on foot to the outskirts of the city where he hijacked a car and stabbed its driver. CCTV footage in Spanish media appears to show him walking through a market district.
The man murdered in the car was named as Pau Pérez, 34, from Vila Franca - the 15th victim of the Barcelona bloodshed and a later attack in the resort of Cambrils. A woman died in Cambrils when a car was driven into pedestrians and five suspected jihadists were killed at the scene by police early on Friday. Police have also confirmed that an imam, suspected of radicalising the young men who carried out the attacks, died in what is believed to have been an accidental explosion on Wednesday at a house in Alcanar, south of Barcelona, that was being used as a bomb factory.
The remains of one other person found at the house are still being examined. The terror cell behind the attacks was 12 strong. Police say eight suspects are now dead and four are in custody. The group had apparently been planning three co-ordinated attacks using home-made bombs, but were thwarted by the Alcanar blast. Police found about 120 gas canisters at the Alcanar site.
Courtesy:BBC
