The Catalan police identified on Monday (21) the author of the attack on La Rambla, in Barcelona. The driver of the van that killed 13 people and left 100 more injured, is Younes Abouyaaqoub.
Younes Abouyaaqoub is a 22-year-old Moroccan, according to Spanish press reports. He is supposed to be a member of a Terrorist cell that planned to carry out several attacks in Barcelona.
In addition to the 14 people killed in Barcelona (13 people killed and the man stabbed), a woman who was hit in Cambrils by a car that did not obey a police control, also did not resist the injuries.
Thus, the number of victims in the attacks has risen to 15. All the victims have already been identified.
International Hunting
"If we knew he was in Spain, we would go after him. We do not know where he is," Catalan police chief Josep Luis Trapero told the international press, on Sunday, in reference to the fugitive. Therefore, other countries are on alert and an international hunt has begun.
Before police identified Abouyaaqoub as the prime suspect of driving the van, it was thought that the vehicle had been run by Moussa Oukabir, 17, who was killed hours after the attack in Cambrils.
According to Trapero, the initial plans of the terrorist cell were frustrated by an accidental explosion on Wednesday (16) in a house in Alcanar, 200 km south of Barcelona.
"At that moment they were preparing the explosives to imminently carry out one or several attacks in the city of Barcelona," Trapero said.
There were more than 100 gas cylinders stored in the house, and that the Catalan police found "ingredients" of TATP, an explosive used by the extremist Islamic State (ISIS) group, who claimed the attacks.
According to the Spanish police, Younes was shot dead in Subirats, a city West from Barcelona. Younes appeared to be wearing an explosive vest and the police acted fast.
The role of the Imam
Of the 12 identified members of the terrorist cell, four are detained, five died after the attack in Cambrils, one is outlawed and another died at the Alcanar house.
The 12th may also have died in the Alcanar explosion because in the residence were found "traces of at least two people," Trapero said.
None of the 12 members of the cell, aged between 17 and 34, had a history linked to terrorist offenses, said the commander of the Mossos d'Esquadra.
Trapero confirmed that one of the members of the cell is the Imam of Ripoll, a small town in northern Catalonia where several members of the group lived.
The Imam was identified by his apartment colleague, Nordeen el Haji, as Abdelbaki Es Satty. On Saturday (19), the police carried out a search in his house.
In recent hours suspicions have increased that the 42-year-old Imam was leading the cell. "He met more young people than people of his age," a neighbor of Ripoll told the Spanish police.
Homage to the Holy Family
On Sunday, Barcelona paid homage to the victims in a solemn ceremony at the Sagrada Familia, the famous temple designed by Antonio Gaudí, in the presence of 1,800 people.
The ceremony was attended by King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and the president of the region of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, under heavy security measures that included the presence of snipers.
The Catalan capital recovered part of normality with the beginning of the soccer league, when Barcelona dedicated to their fans, in mourning, the victory by 2 to 0 against Betis. On the grid, the crowd repeated the motto "I'm not afraid" and on the field, Leo Messi and the team displayed black armbands and special shirts, in which their names were replaced by the one of the city, "Barcelona".
