Police hunting the van driver behind the Barcelona terror attack say they have shot dead a suspect wearing what appeared to be a suicide belt.
Spanish media reported that Younes Abouyaaqoub, the 22-year-old Moroccan named as the suspected driver of the van that killed 13 people on Las Ramblas, was shot by police during the operation in Subirats, an hour’s drive to the west of the city.
Several Spanish media said one man wearing an explosive belt had been shot dead in Subirats and the bomb squad was using a robot to get close to him.
Abouyaaqoub was believed to be the only at-large member of the 12-strong terror cell behind the attacks in Barcelona and the seaside town of Cambrils.
Thirteen people, including a seven-yer-old boy, died in the van attack on Las Ramblas, while another woman was killed in a separate attack in the seaside resort of Cambrils during which terrorists wearing fake suicide belts drove an Audi A3 into pedestrians. All five terrorists were shot by police, with four dying at the scene and the fifth later from his injuries.
Earlier, police said Abouyaaqoub fled the scene of last Thursday’s attack on Las Ramblas on foot before later stabbing a man to death and taking his car to escape.