Three people have been arrested and five suspects are dead following the vehicle attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, Spain on Thursday and early Friday.
Spanish authorities say two people were arrested shortly after the attack in Barcelona — a Moroccan and a Spanish national from Melilla, a Spanish enclave in North Africa — but neither is believed to be the driver of the van that plowed into pedestrians in the city’s picturesque Las Ramblas district, killing 13 people and injuring more than 100.
A third person was arrested Friday in the northern town of Ripoll, where one of the two detained on Thursday had also been nabbed. The third arrest was made in Alcanar, where the gas explosion in a house was being investigated.
“There could be more people in Ripoll connected to the group,” Joaquim Forn, Catalonia’s interior minister, told TV3 television, adding that police were focusing their investigation on identifying the five suspects who were killed in a shootout with police in Cambrils as well as the driver of the Barcelona van.
Spanish public broadcaster RTVE and other news outlets named one of the detained as Driss Oukabir, a French citizen of Moroccan origin. RTVE reported Oukabir went to police in Ripoll to report that his identity documents had been stolen. Various Spanish media said the IDs with his name were found in the attack van and that he claimed his brother might have stolen them.
Media outlets ran photographs of Oukabir that they said police had issued to identify one of the suspects. The regional police told The Associated Press that they had not distributed the photograph. They refused to say if he was one of the two detained.
Oukabir, 27, grew up in Ripoll and studied at Institut Abat Oliba de Ripoll, an acquaintance of Oukabir told CBC News.
Driss Oukabir is alleged to have rented the van used in the attack. Oukabir reportedly went to police after the attack to say his identity papers had been stolen. (Spanish National Police/EPA)
The source, who has known the family for about 10 years, said Oukabir previously had legal troubles, including arrests for dealing drugs and time in Figueres jail. Oukabir’s criminal history was also reported in local media.
Oukabir had several family members living in Ripoll. They were described as friendly and open.
There are reports that Oukabir’s younger brother, Moussa, was also involved in the attacks.
Little is known about the suspects killed in Cambrils after a car reportedly crashed into a police vehicle and nearby civilians. Police said the attackers were carrying bomb belts which later turned out to be fake
