At Least Thirteen Dead In The Barcelona Attack

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

The terrorist attack that has bloodied the center of Barcelona, Spain this Thursday, has claimed at least 13 deaths of various nationalities and left more than 80 wounded, according to authorities.

The Catalan Minister of the Interior, Joaquim Forn, warned that the number of fatalities could increase due to the serious condition of some of the wounded admitted to various hospitals in Barcelona.

The authorities have confirmed the arrest of two people - one born in the Spanish city of Melilla, in North Africa, and another of Moroccan origin - in relation to the attack, but none of them is the material author of the attack, which has already been vindicated by the Islamic State.

Previous reports that one of the perpetrators was entrenched with hostages in a bar have also been denied, one of several rumors that have emerged amid the chaos and uncertainty generated by the tragedy.

The police reported the location in the city of Vic, north of Barcelona, of a second vehicle that the same people responsible for the attack had rented. A third person has died in a town on the outskirts of the city after skipping a police checkpoint, but it is not clear that this event is linked to terrorism.

The new mortal balance gives an idea of the horror that has been experienced around 5 pm local time, when a white van has climbed La Rambla, the emblematic pedestrian promenade of the Catalan capital, and has run over passers-by along a route of about 600 meters.

In its wake it has left a trail of dead and wounded, as can be seen in the shocking images of the scene of the events that circulate through the networks.

"He has picked up a lot of speed and has gone down doing eses, running over everything he could," taxi driver Óscar Cano told Catalan television TV3. “When I ran over people, they would fly off and fall on the ground.

The vehicle would have gone up to the promenade at the end that ends at Plaza Catalunya and stopped in front of the Liceo theater, near the popular La Boquería market, which the police have forced to close.

Another witness, who was in a Starbucks coffee shop, said he heard a huge crash followed by a flood of panicked people entering the premises. "There are wounded people, wounded children, it is horrible," he told Radio Barcelona. "It was very fast and terrifying."

Today's horror has generated a wave of solidarity towards Barcelona from all corners of the world, both from stars, leaders and celebrities, and anonymous citizens.

The President of the Catalan Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, thanked for the signs of affection and stressed the need for the tragedy not to change the character of the city. "Barcelona is a city of dialogue and democracy, open to the world and proud of its cosmopolitanism," he assured. "We will not let a minority destroy a way of being that has been forged over the centuries."

This is at least the eighth attack in Europe committed with a vehicle that runs over its victims in the last year, after those that occurred in Nice, Berlin and London, among others.