British tourists among victims in Barcelona terror attack that left 13 dead

Brits caught up in Barcelona attack which left 13 dead ++++ Woman dies after second linked attack at seaside Spanish town ++++ Hunt continues for suspected attacker
People rush to help victims after the van attack on Las Ramblas, Barcelona
AFP

British holidaymakers were today revealed to be among those injured in the Barcelona atrocity.

The number was thought to be less than five but the seriousness of their injuries is not yet known.

It came as the details of the terrorist's 13 victims began to emerge.

An Italian father of two, Bruno Gulotta, 35, who was walking down Las Ramblas hand-in-hand with his five-year-old son, was today named among the dead.

Barcelona and Cambrils terror attacks

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A seven-year-old boy from Australia with British relatives and an American celebrating his wedding anniversary were missing feared dead.

The dead and injured are said to be from at least 24 different countries.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “Our thoughts are with the victims of these terrible attacks and the people of Spain.

“We are currently assisting a small number of British people affected and are working to find out if any more need our help.

Police are searching for Morocco-born Moussa Oukabir who is the main suspect in the Barcelona attack

“We have deployed additional staff to Barcelona and have offered support to the Spanish authorities.”

Last night a terrorist drove into crowds in Barcelona, leaving a trail of carnage on Las Ramblas, a street popular with tourists.

A woman lays tributes at the scene of the attack in Barcelona
AFP/Getty Images

Later, five terrorists wearing fake suicide belts were shot dead by police, in the second of two atrocities to strike the country.

Seven people, including a police officer, were hurt in the latest attack in Cambrils. One woman later succumbed to her injuries in hospital.

Today police linked the attacks with an explosion on Wednesday evening at a house 120 miles south of Barcelona that left one person dead.

Police investigators at the scene in Barcelona
AFP/Getty Images

Dozens of gas cylinders were found at the property in the town of Alcanar. A police source said the residents had been preparing explosives.

Spanish officials said one possibility was that an Islamist terror cell had plotted to detonate a bomb made up of butane gas canisters among crowds on Las Ramblas.

Police believe the attacks in Cambrils and Barcelona involved a terror cell of eight people.

Tourists and locals on Las Ramblas in Barcelona today
EPA

Today a Spanish official said at least one terrorist was still at large — believed to be the driver of the van. He was named today as Moussa Oukabir, 18, a Spanish national of Moroccan heritage, who had previously written online about “killing infidels”.

The driver fled into the crowds after crashing into a kiosk. Alerts have been issued across Europe.

Missing: Julian Alessandro Cadman
Handout

The second atrocity came as police attempted to stop an Audi A3 at about 1am in Cambrils, a coastal town 75 miles south of Barcelona.

The car burst through the checkpoint and was pursued by officers before it careered into crowds and overturned.

Bruno Gulotta, 35, is understood to be among the victims

Five men wearing fake suicide vests and brandishing knives leapt out and began stabbing passers-by before they were shot dead by police. At least seven people were injured, one critically.

Fitzroy Davies, from Wolverhampton, described how police shot dead one of the attackers. Mr Davies, who was in Spain for a judo camp, said: “When he took the first round of shots he fell on the floor, and then within two seconds, I thought I was watching a film, one of them horror films, the guy just stood up. Just stood up, got back up, walked over the fence and started laughing at the police. And as he started laughing at the police, he was walking to them and the police started to step backwards and then they shot him again. And that’s when he went down.”

The incident in Cambrils unfolded as police were engaged in a huge manhunt for the driver of the rented white Renault van which zig-zagged 500 yards through crowds on Las Ramblas at 5pm yesterday.

The van drove on to the pavement of the street packed with families and tourists, swerving to target pedestrians in what was “clearly a terror attack intended to kill as many people as possible”, according to senior police official Josep Lluis Trapero.

Officials warned the death toll was likely to rise. Fifteen people were described as seriously injured.

Among the dead was said to be a three-year-old child. The missing seven-year-old boy was named as Julian Cadman, an Australian whose grandfather is said to be from Britain.

Moussa Oukabir is thought to have stolen identity documents belonging to his older brother Driss Oukabir, 28, to rent the van. Driss Oukabir was initially named as a suspect but later handed himself at a police station in Ripoll, a town to the north of Barcelona, not far from the French border.

The attacks are the latest in a line of Islamic State-inspired outrages involving vehicles in Nice, Berlin, Stockholm and London. There were marked similarities to the London Bridge atrocity, in which a gang of fanatics wearing fake suicide belts drove into crowds before attacking people with knives in June.

Among those confirmed to have died in the Barcelona attack were visitors from Belgium and Germany. The French foreign ministry said 26 French nationals were injured, including 11 seriously. An Irish family were reported to have suffered injuries, although they were not said to be life-threatening.

So far, none of those killed were reported to be British. The Foreign Office said: “Our thoughts are with the victims of these terrible attacks and the people of Spain. We are currently assisting a small number of British people affected and are working to find out if any more need our help.

“We have deployed additional staff to Barcelona and have offered support to the Spanish authorities.”

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the deadliest on Spanish soil since more than 190 people died in the Madrid train bombs in 2004. There were reports that the CIA had warned police in Barcelona two months ago that Las Ramblas could be the target of a vehicle attack.

Today witnesses to the Barcelona attack described how tourists and locals laid flowers at the scene. Lawyer and University of Glasgow rector Aamer Anwar, who was caught up in the attack, tweeted: “People back, laying flowers where there was carnage yesterday... hate can’t win and won’t win.”

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