The Catalonian cities of Barcelona and Cambrils in Spain were targets of two new attacks where vehicles plowed into a crowded area.
As reported by the BBC, a white van zig-zagged through Barcelona’s famous Las Ramblas district Thursday afternoon, hitting as many pedestrians as possible before fleeing the scene. The suspect is still at-large and has been identified as 17-year-old Moussa Oukabir. Oukabir is believed by law enforcement to have used his older brother’s documents to rent the van that plowed through the crowd. Spanish police have described the incident as a terrorist attack, leaving 13 dead and more than 100 injured.
In a related attack early the next morning, an Audi A3 was driven through a crowd of pedestrians, this time in Cambrils, a resort town 68 miles south-west of Barcelona. The car overturned and five people emerged, some wearing fake suicide belts. They were shot and killed by police. A woman who was hurt in the attack died later at the hospital. Five other people were injured, one of whom is a police officer. Victims of the attack included an American whose name has not yet been released, and there were at least 34 nationalities representing people who were either killed or injured during the two incidents.
ISIS has no evidence that it was behind what happened in Las Ramblas, but claimed it was behind the attack. Earlier today, a stabbing spree in Turku, Finland was also reported. Details are still emerging. According to CNN, at least one person was killed and seven others were hospitalized.
To find out more, Larry speaks to a reporter who is on the scene in Barcelona.
Guests:
Bahman Kalbasi, correspondent for the BBC reporting from Barcelona; he tweets
Brian Michael Jenkins, senior advisor to the president of the Rand Corporation and one of the nation's leading experts on terrorism and homeland security; he tweets
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Marc Fisher, senior editor for the Washington Post