Spanish Police Intensify Hunt For Prime Suspect Of Barcelona Attack

Police in Spain have intensified search for the prime suspect of the car ramming incident which witnessed the killing of at least 14 people and injured more than 100 others in the bustling Las Ramblas area of Barcelona which is usually crowded by tourists.

Reports say there are growing signs members of the militant group who had links with the attack had connections elsewhere in Europe even as security operations were under way in Catalonia and on the French border in search of the 22-year-old prime suspect identified as Moroccan-born Younes Abouyaaqoub.

“We don’t have any specific information on this but it cannot be ruled out,” Catalan police chief Josep Lluis Trapero told a news conference in Barcelona when asked if Abouyaaqoub could have crossed into France.

Abouyaaqoub is the only one of 12 suspects still at large following a shootout which ensued late Friday between police and suspected terrorists in the Catalonia region of Spain which witnessed the gunning down of five alleged militants by cops.

According to Catalan police, the alleged terrorists, who wore fake suicide vests and were armed with knives, were killed in the coastal town of Cambrils after striking pedestrians and police there with an Audi A3.

Four people, including a police officer, were injured in the vehicle-ramming attack and one civilian, a woman, was killed, according to Catalonia’s emergency services.