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Seven injured and one dead in second Spanish terror attack

Updated 11:30 Catalonian authorities have announced that a woman has died following the seco...
Newstalk
Newstalk

06.33 18 Aug 2017


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Seven injured and one dead in...

Seven injured and one dead in second Spanish terror attack

Newstalk
Newstalk

06.33 18 Aug 2017


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Updated 11:30

Catalonian authorities have announced that a woman has died following the second Spanish terror attack in Cambrils, Spain last night.

It brings the death toll in the two attacks to 14.

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Special Forces were deployed to the coastal town of Cambrils during the night - just hours after a van ploughed into crowds in Barcelona's famous Las Ramblas boulevard in which 13 people were killed and at least 100 others injured.

Five suspected terrorists were killed in the ensuing shoot-out with Spanish police.

The Catalan government says the two attacks are linked.

Police said the men were wearing fake explosive belts. A bomb squad carried out several controlled explosions. 

Markel Artabe lives in the town and had just finished work when it happened:

Seven injured and one dead in second Spanish terror attack

00:00:00 / 00:00:00

“Just as we got to the seafront, we heard shots – we began to run,” he said.

“We saw one person lying on the pavement with a shot in his head.

“Then we saw two more people who must have been terrorists as they had explosive belts around them. We were worried so we hid.”

Footage of the operation in the early hours of the morning at the popular seaside resort, situated 62 miles southwest of Barcelona, showed bystanders running for cover amid the sound of gunfire.

At least three bodies could be seen on the ground in a separate video posted on social media.

Six civilians and a police officer were hurt during the operation, but it was unclear how they acquired their injuries. Two of them are seriously injured.

Screams and police sirens could be heard in another clip filmed from inside a restaurant as diners ran for cover after hearing gunshots.

Catalan authorities urged local residents in a Twitter post to "stay home" and "stay safe."

Joan Marc Serra Salinas, a 21-year-old waiter, said he heard many gunshots - adding: "And shouting. And more shouting. I jumped onto the beach and didn't move."

Police said the Cambrils plot was linked to the earlier attack involving a white Fiat van - the driver of which remains at large and is the focus of a police manhunt - and an explosion 100 miles away in Alcanar.

Two people have been arrested over the Barcelona attack.

One has been named by police as Moroccan national Driss Oukabir, who was detained in the Catalan town of Ripoll, about 50 miles north of the Catalan capital.

A second suspect - a Spanish national from Melilla, a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa which shares a border with Morocco - was detained in Alcanar, where one person was killed another injured in the blast.

Islamic State said it was responsible for the attack, in a statement through its propaganda agency Amaq.

Anyone with concerns for the safety of Irish people in Barcelona can contact the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin on +353-1-4082000 or the Irish embassy in Madrid on +34-91-4364093.


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