Barcelona terror attack as van hits pedestrians
Print Edition
POLICE in Barcelona said they were dealing with a “terrorist attack” after a driver deliberately plowed a van into pedestrians on the city’s famous Las Ramblas boulevard yesterday.
Police were clearing the area after the incident, which left a number of people injured.
A person suspected of being the driver was holed up in a bar, a Spanish police source said.
“One of the attackers is holed up in a bar,” said the source, adding that police were looking for a total of two suspects over the attack which has left at least two people dead.
One radio report put the death toll at 13.
The white van jumped the sidewalk before crashing into a summer crowd of residents and tourists, police said.
They described the incident on Twitter as a “massive crash.”
“Huge collision on Las Ramblas in Barcelona by an individual driving a van, many injuries,” a statement said.
The area around the incident was cordoned off, with several ambulances and police vehicles at the scene.
Police told crowds fleeing the scene by megaphone that they were dealing with a “terrorist attack.”
In a photograph shown by public broadcaster RTVE, three people were lying on the ground in the street yesterday afternoon, apparently being helped by police and others. Other videos showed five people down and recorded people screaming as they fled the scene.
Witness Ethan Spibey told Britain’s Sky News: “All of sudden it was real chaos. People just started running screaming, there were loud bangs. People just started running into shops, there was a kind of mini-stampede where we were, down one of the alleyways.”
He said he had taken refuge with dozens of other people in a nearby church. “They’ve locked the doors because I’m not sure whether the person who may have done it has actually been caught, so they’ve locked the doors and told people just to wait in here.”
The Las Ramblas boulevard is normally thronged with tourists and street performers.
Emergency services said people should not go to the area around the city’s Placa Catalunya, and requested the closure of train and metro stations.
El Pais newspaper said the driver of the vehicle had fled on foot after mowing down dozens of people.
While full details of the incident were not immediately clear, since July 2016 vehicles have been used to ram into crowds in a series of attacks across Europe, killing over 100 people in Nice, Berlin, London and Stockholm.
In recent weeks, graffiti threatening tourists has appeared in Barcelona.
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