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Why Spain has become a target for terrorists

‘La Sagrada Familia’, Antoni Gaudi’s masterpiece in Barcelona.
‘La Sagrada Familia’, Antoni Gaudi’s masterpiece in Barcelona.

David Ramos/Getty Images

The Barcelona terrorist attack on Thursday ended a 13-year run in Spain in which the country had no attacks inspired by Islamic extremism — but it hasn't been from a lack of trying.

At least a dozen people are dead and 100 more are injured after a van crashed into a crowd of pedestrians in a tourist-heavy district on Las Ramblas in an attack claimed by the Islamic State terrorist group. The police have two suspects in custody but are still searching for the van's driver, who they say is unarmed.

Spanish officials say they have thwarted at least three serious plots to kill civilians in the past year.

  • November 2016: The police arrest a Moroccan near Madrid who they said was planning a "lone wolf" attack, alerted by his "incessant activity on the internet through which he taught himself to commit terrorist acts."

  • December 2016: The police arrested a person in northern Spain who they said was planning to use trucks to copy the Bastille Day attack in Nice, France, that resulted in 86 deaths and 458 injuries.

  • May 2017: Two Moroccan men arrested in Madrid were accused of planning a truck attack. One had applied for a license to drive the same type of truck used in the Nice attack, and both were suspected of being involved in an online terrorist network.

An Islamist-extremist attack succeeded on Spanish soil most recently in March 2004, when Al Qaeda operatives bombed four commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people.

The country ramped up its security force and intelligence assets after those attacks, and it now tracks about 1,000 people suspected of links to terrorism and the Islamic State.

But just as important, according to an intelligence analyst speaking with London's The Times, "better integration" for the Muslim population has seen Spain avoid the frequency of attacks seen in France.

"Here we don't have ghettos as they do in France," the analyst said. "The integration of the Muslim population is greater — the radicalization is not so great."

The Times reports that Spain is considered a target for jihadists because of it was largely under Muslim rule from the years 711 to 1492.

This time last year, the Islamic State's media arm made a point of reminding militants of Muslims killed by the Spanish in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, the 1212 battle known in the Arab world as the Battle of al-Uqab. It called on them to rise up against Spaniards in tourist hotspots such as Barcelona's Las Ramblas and use explosives and trucks to avenge "crimes committed by Spain against Muslims."

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