Spanish police 'kill Barcelona attack suspect'

Spanish police shot dead the 'driver' behind last week's attack in Barcelona on Monday, after a tense hunt for the ringleader behind the killings.

MENA

1 min read

The New Arab & agencies

21 August, 2017

The 22-year-old Moroccan was believed to be the last remaining member of a 12-man. [Getty]

Spanish police killed fugitive driver Younes Abouyaaqoub on Monday, who is suspected of mowing down crowds in last week's terror attack in Barcelona.

Police in Catalonia said a man wearing what appeared to be a suicide belt had been killed in Subirats, 60 kilometres west of Barcelona.

A bomb disposal robot was dispatched to approach the suspect, Catalan police said.

"We confirm that the person shot down in the incident in Subirats (near Barcelona) is Younes Abouyaaqoub, the perpetrator of the terrorist attack in Barcelona," police in Catalonia tweeted.

Earlier on Monday, police named Abouyaaqoub as the driver of the van which killed 15 people and injured over 100 last week on Las Ramblas Boulevard.

The 22-year-old Moroccan was believed to be the last remaining member of a 12-man cell still at large in Spain or abroad.

The rest have been killed by police or detained over last week's twin attacks in Barcelona and the seaside resort of Cambrils.