Spanish police launch manhunt for twin terror attack suspect

Spanish police have focused their search on a Moroccan national believed to be the ringleader of a terror cell suspected of being behind the twin terror attacks in Spain.

Spanish authorities launched a manhunt on Saturday for the supposed ringleader of a terror cell believed to be behind two vehicle attacks in Barcelona and the seaside resort town of Cambrils.
In the attacks that began on Thursday afternoon, a white van swerved onto Barcelona's historic Las Ramblas pedestrian promenade, killing 13 people and injuring more than 100 as it ploughed down unsuspecting tourists and locals. 
A few hours later, five attackers began running down people along the boardwalk in the seaside resort town of Cambrils with an Audi A3.
One woman died and five others were injured before police shot and killed all five attackers.
Daesh has claimed responsibility for both the attacks.
Police Raids
On Saturday, police searched two buses in northwest Catalonia in the hunt for any remaining members of the cell. 
Nothing was found during the raids in Girona and Garrigas, police said.
Police also announced a series of controlled explosions Saturday in the town of Alcanar, south of Barcelona.
It is believed the attacks were planned in a rental house destroyed a day before the attacks by an accidental blast. 
Authorities had initially written off Wednesday night's incident as a household gas accident, but took another look on Friday and returned on Saturday.
Police believe Wednesday night's blast, which killed at least one person and injured one of the suspects currently in custody, actually prevented a far deadlier attack using explosives, forcing the suspects to use more rudimentary vehicles instead.
Catalan police on Saturday urged Alcanar residents not to be alarmed by the controlled explosions.
TRT World's Sarah Morice reports from Barcelona.

International manhunt
One of the main suspects in the attacks is Younes Abouyaaquoub, a 22-year-old Moroccan.
Police sources have not confirmed reports saying he was the driver who ploughed a van into pedestrians in Barcelona on Thursday.
The suspect's name figures on a list of four main suspects sought by police.
The list was issued throughout Spain and into France, according to a Spanish official and a French police official.
The French official said Spain had flagged a rental van that was believed to have crossed the border to the north.
In addition to the five attackers killed in Cambrils, four others have been arrested as part of the investigation.

Younes Abouyaaqoub, one of the suspects of the Barcelona and Cambrils attacks.

Bigger attacks planned

Police said they believed the suspects were planning a much larger attack, possibly a vehicle bomb, with the use of gas canisters.

But they appeared to have made mistakes, accidentally triggering Wednesday's explosion.

Security forces removed dozens of gas canisters from the house in Alcanar, according to a photographer at the scene.

"They were preparing one or several attacks in Barcelona, and an explosion in Alcanar stopped this as they no longer had the material they needed to commit attacks of an even bigger scope," said Josep Lluis Trapero of Catalonia's police.

TRT World's Arabella Munro reports.

From TRT World and Tabriz Sky

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