Spain ‘dismantles cell behind terror attacks’

This image, taken on August 18, 2017, shows Catalan police officers taking into custody a suspect in the town of Ripoll, during a manhunt following the deadly terror attacks in Barcelona and the seaside resort of Cambrils. (By AFP)

Spain says it has dismantled an extremist cell behind the recent terrorist attacks in Catalonia, which were claimed by the Takfiri Daesh group.

Thirteen people died on Thursday when a man drove a van into people in a Barcelona promenade. Some 120 people were also injured.

Another similar attack on Friday killed one person and wounded five in the resort of Cambrils.

Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido told a news conference on Saturday that the cell behind the terrorist attacks had been dismantled.

“The cell has been fully dismantled in Barcelona, after examining the people who died, the people who were arrested and carrying out identity checks,” Zoido said.

He assured there was no new imminent danger of an attack.

Police tow away the van that rammed into a crowd Rambla Avenue in Barcelona, August 17, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

This is while Spanish police have said the driver of the van in the Barcelona attack is still at large. He was seen escaping on foot after the attack.

Information about the investigation is patchy. Police were also trying on Saturday to determine whether two other suspects linked to the attacks were dead or still at large.

That uncertainty may be because the remains of three people found at a house in Alcanar after an explosion on Wednesday are yet to be identified. An unknown number of suspects were reportedly attempting to build bombs there when a pre-mature detonation occurred.

A Moroccan-born 22-year-old, Younes Abouyaaqoub, is among the suspects still being sought. Spanish media said he might have been the driver of the van in the Barcelona attack, but authorities have not confirmed that.

This image shows Spanish police officers on Rambla, where a van plowed into civilians, killing 13 and injuring about 100, in Barcelona, on August 17, 2017. (By AFP)

In the Cambrils incident, police managed to kill all the five assailants. They were wearing fake explosive belts.

Seventeen-year-old Moussa Oukabir, whose brother Driss reported to police that his documents had been stolen, was one of the five killed. His documents were found in the van in the Barcelona attack.

Four people were also in police custody.

Everyone so far known in the cell grew up in Ripoll, a Catalan town near the French border, 100 kilometers north of Barcelona.

Halima Hychami, the mother of Mohamed Hychami, one of the attackers named by police, said she learned about the incident on TV.

Handout images released by the Catalan regional police on August 18, 2017 show two of the suspects in the Barcelona and Cambrils attacks, Mohamed Hychami (R) and Younes Abouyaaqoub. (Via AFP)

She said Mohamed had told her he was leaving on vacation. His younger brother, Omar, left home and has been missing since mid-afternoon Thursday, as well.