The Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization took responsibility Thursday night for a deadly ramming attack that left 13 people dead and wounded at least 80 others in Barcelona, Spain.
The group’s Amaq News Agency said in a statement, “The perpetrators of the Barcelona attack are soldiers of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting coalition states.”
BREAKING: 'Amaq News Agency reported responsibility for attack pic.twitter.com/W8FFz7qBz6
— SITE Intel Group (@siteintelgroup) August 17, 2017
Spanish National Police released a photo of a suspect they said had rented the white commercial van that carried out the ramming attack. Driss Oubakir – who police said is being treated “as a terrorist” – was born in Morocco, but holds Spanish citizenship, according to local media. It was not clear whether he was the individual arrested near the site of the first attack, or not.
Two men were arrested following the ramming.
Spanish media reported the first suspect was caught near the scene of the ramming, where a white commercial vehicle had plowed into the huge crowds of tourists and shoppers on Las Rambla, the famed pedestrian promenade in the Las Ramblas section of Barcelona.
The second suspect was arrested approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Barcelona, in Manileu.
A third suspect died in a shootout when he tried to ram police with his car some three kilometers from the scene of the first attack. According to local media it was not clear whether his death resulted from suicide or his having been shot by police.