The Islamic State claimed responsibility for Thursday’s deadly terror attack in Barcelona, Spain, that left more than a dozen dead and dozens more wounded earlier Thursday evening.
The group said “soldiers of the Islamic State” carried out a van attack on pedestrians at a popular shopping area in Barcelona, known as Las Ramblas.
“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,” ISIS said in a statement, according to Sky News.
3)#Barcelonaattack comes 2weeks after pro-#ISIS user threatened “Reconquest to al-andalus”&”imminent attack” in #Spain .Unclear if connected pic.twitter.com/fTdKVkW9VF
— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) August 17, 2017
The incident came two weeks after a Twitter user supportive of the terrorist group had threatened an “imminent attack” in Spain.
At least 13 people are dead and 80 others are injured after a person operating a white van drove it onto the sidewalk and plowed into pedestrians in the Las Ramblas district of Barcelona, Spain, Thursday evening, authorities said.
“Terrorist attack confirmed. The terrorist attack protocol has been activated,” Catalan police tweeted around 7 p.m. local time.
Graphic videos on Twitter showed people lying on the ground along the block near Placa Catalunya where the incident took place.
Police released a photo of Driss Oukabir, the man believed to have rented the van used in the attack. Oukabir, 28, is from Morocco and currently resides in Ripoll, Spain. Two days ago, he posted a photo on Facebook that showed him lying under a parasol on a beach.
Some reports indicated the driver of the van had been arrested. One suspect was reported to have been killed in a shootout with local police.
