Yahoo News Barcelona attack live: Terror cell of at least eight people may have been involved in plots using gas canisters
Authorities continue to investigate the terror attacks in Spain continue to hunt for one more suspect they think it connected to the attack.
Moussa Oukabir, the suspected driver of a van which killed 13 people in Barcelona, was reportedly one of the attackers shot dead by police in Cambrils.
They continue to hunt for Younnes Abouyaaqoub.
Investigators believe a cell of at least eight people may have been involved and had been planning to use gas canisters, according to a judicial source. Here is the latest:
Death toll of attacks rises to 14 after woman injured in Cambrils dies
Gas explosion that destroyed house night before massacre linked
Attack mirrors Isis’ repeated calls for atrocities in Europe
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The driver of a van used to kill at least 13 people in Barcelona remains at large, with police focusing their manhunt on 18-year-old Moussa Oukabir.
Spanish media reported statements allegedly made by the teenager on social media two years ago, where he was asked what he would do if made ruler of the world.
“Kill all infidels and only allow Muslims to continue the religion," Moussa reportedly answered, going on to say the only country he would never live in is “the Vatican”.
He is the brother of Driss Oukabir, an arrested suspect who told police his brother stole his ID to rent the van used in the attack.
Spanish authorities believe there were at least eight people involved in the attacks and that the group had planned to use butane gas canisters, a judicial source has said.
Another source told Spanish newspaper El Pais at least 12 members of the cell had been identified.
Separately, a Catalan government official told local radio that it was possible that attackers had meant to use canisters in Tuesday's attacks.
Four people have so far been arrested in connection with the attacks, which left 14 people dead and more than 100 injured.
The casualties included several children and came from 24 different countries, the Catalan government said, ranging from France and Germany to Pakistan and the Philippines.
The attack on Barcelona’s famous La Rambla street, a favourite of tourists and locals alike, was suspected to be the first of a planned wave of attacks.
Isis claimed responsibility for the ramming, which mirrored previous attacks in London and other European cities, on Thursday night.
A statement released via its Amaq propaganda agency said the assault was perpetrated by “soldiers of the Islamic State [who] carried out the operation in response to calls targeting coalition countries”, referring to the US-led coalition bombing its territories in Iraq and Syria.
The wording echoed previous claims of responsibility for atrocities that were inspired by the group’s propaganda but not directed by militants abroad.
As security forces hunted for the van's driver, who was seen escaping on foot, police said killed five attackers who rammed a car into five civilians and a police officer in the town of Cambrils.
A woman injured in the ramming died of her injuries in hospital on Friday, Catalan authorities said, bringing the death toll of the two attacks to 14.
The suspected terrorists, who were wearing fake explosives belts, were shot dead and authorities carried out a series of controlled explosions.
“The priority right now is work out the identity of these people, to prove and show the relationship between the different people involved, those that took the van and those that have been able to escape,” said Joaquim Forn, a Catalan government official.
Police said the incident was linked to the Barcelona attack, as was an explosion that destroyed a house in Alcanar, Catalonia.
Around 20 bottles of gas were reportedly found within the ruins of the house, which analysts say could be packed into a vehicle to create an explosive device – a technique previously used by foiled Isis plotters in Paris.
Vans, lorries and cars have also been used in previous Isis-linked attacks in London, Nice, Berlin, Stockholm and Paris.
One person died in the explosion in Alcanar but has not yet been named by police.
One of the attack suspects was arrested in the town on Thursday, which lies around 120 miles south of Barcelona.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has announced three days of official mourning for what he called a “jihadist attack.”
It was the deadliest atrocity in Spain since March 2004, when militants inspired by al-Qaeda placed bombs on commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people and wounding more than 1,800.
