Moussa Oukabir, 18, is said to have stolen his older brother’s identity documents to rent the white Renault van which later rammed into pedestrians on a busy street popular with tourists. His brother Driss Oukabir, 28, was initially named as a suspect but later handed himself to a police station in Ripoll, a town to the north of Barcelona, and told them his brother stole his ID.
Moussa Oukabir is said to be a Spanish national of Moroccan heritage. He had previously written a chilling post online about “killing infidels”. The resident of Barcelona posted on social network Kiwi that if he was king of the world, his first act would be to “kill the infidels”. He uses his social media accounts to air hatred for non-Muslims.
Authorities in Spain believe the terror cell may have had up to 12 members. Five were shot dead by police during the second attack last night, another suspect was killed in an explosion in Alcanar. Meanwhile, ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Driss Oukabir brother, whose identity document is said to have been found in the van used in the attack, was arrested yesterday on his way to hand himself in to police and he told them his brother stole his ID documents. After he and another suspect were detained yesterday, police arrested a third person, a 34-year-old Moroccan, in Ripoll today. Moussa, however, is still on the run.
A security expert told the New York Times that police believe three vans were hired using the elder Oukabir brother’s ID, after the plotters were unable to hire a larger truck.
A separate incident also occurred yesterday in Spain with a man getting shot dead by police after driving through a roadblock and running over two officers, injuring them. Spanish authorities now say he was not linked to the attack.
A third incident occurred in Spain yesterday. This time, it was a gas explosion in Alcanar which led to the death of one. The dead man has since been linked to the attacks last night. Police believe the house where the explosion took place was being used as a bomb factory by the terrorists.
Just few hours after the initial attack that left 13 dead, there was another attack. Five men wearing fake suicide belts were shot dead by police after they launched a second terrorist attack in Cambrils, 70 miles southwest of Barcelona at 1 a.m. on Friday morning, injuring seven people by driving an Audi A3 into crowds on the seafront.
Footballers Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi who play for Spanish clubs have reacted to the attacks in Spain and sent condolence messages. Neymar also sent a condolence message.
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