Van being driven by a man intentionally hits pedestrians- Ramblas in Barcelona: at least 13 dead, 50 injured. 2nd man in van attempt thwarted. It's te (1 Viewer)

[El Floppo]

And I went through Cambrils the day before I was at Las Ramblas 

Knew this was all somehow Christos fault.

 

[Slapdash]

CNN now reporting authorities are designating it a "terror" attack.

Is that the CNN you spent today attacking for its bias?

 

[Slapdash]

I was there less than 2 weeks ago 

Visiting with the wife?  Hopefully you made it to La Sagrada Familia.  What a place. 

 

[Judge Smails]

Walked down La Rambla with my entire family last summer.  And my daughter was on the same street in Nice a week before that disaster happened.  Just brutal.  Could have been us.

 

[The Z Machine]

Terrible.  Just terrible.  The worst is hearing that children are hurt or killed.

Christo, I'm not sure if your wife has family there or not, but I'm hoping that they are unaffected by this.  My wife has a nephew that lives in Granollers and works in the city center. He and his family are OK.

 

[Christo]

Terrible.  Just terrible.  The worst is hearing that children are hurt or killed.

Christo, I'm not sure if your wife has family there or not, but I'm hoping that they are unaffected by this.  My wife has a nephew that lives in Granollers and works in the city center. He and his family are OK.

Her aunt lives less than a mile away in the Sant Gervasi area. She was home at the time. 

 

[Sabertooth]

Don't man....I've got a high curiosity and tolerance for these kinds of things...but there was just something about this one that really messed with me.  If kids are involved, it's a whole different vantage point for me.  I'm still messed up over that young Syrian refugee boy that they used to show who drown on the beach trying to escape.  I can't deal with kids being involved. 

Thanks for the heads up.  Unfortunately lots of kids are involved in all these horrible things.  My heart breaks for them.  It really does.  

 

[comfortably numb]

Awesome job by Spaniard police killing 5 dooshes in Cambril before they could do more damage

 

[shadyridr]

So the suspect who had his face plastered all over the news yesterday actually turned himself in saying his documents were stolen and that his brother was the actual driver of the van.

 

[El Floppo]

Awesome job by Spaniard police killing 5 dooshes in Cambril before they could do more damage

They're saying these are linked, right? Along with a house explosion?

After all these years after the Madrid bombing and subsequent election, I wonder why they're targeting Spain now.

 

[Sand]

I see a color-coded map of Spain with no indication of what the colors mean.  

That map is the extents of Moorish territory.   The motivations of these guys in Spain is obvious.

So the suspect who had his face plastered all over the news yesterday actually turned himself in saying his documents were stolen and that his brother was the actual driver of the van.

Man, that sucks.  His picture went worldwide - a Richard Jewell type moment.

 

[comfortably numb]

They're saying these are linked, right? Along with a house explosion?

After all these years after the Madrid bombing and subsequent election, I wonder why they're targeting Spain now.

That's the thought process. That house explosion was a couple days ago.

I'm not so sure if it's a targeting Spain thing or just a bunch of radical dooshes that decide to start some chit and happen to live in Spain?

I may be wrong but I just think these guys live in said area and decide they want to cause chaos and select an area of convenience. 

 

[comfortably numb]

That map is the extents of Moorish territory.   The motivations of these guys in Spain is obvious.

Man, that sucks.  His picture went worldwide - a Richard Jewell type moment.

Yep,

Would be another terrible tragedy if someone had confronted the dude and took matter into their own hands.

 

[kface]

That's the thought process. That house explosion was a couple days ago.

I'm not so sure if it's a targeting Spain thing or just a bunch of radical dooshes that decide to start some chit and happen to live in Spain?

I may be wrong but I just think these guys live in said area and decide they want to cause chaos and select an area of convenience. 

The more I read the more I believe that the last days of ISIS are upon us.  There will always be random attacks for sure but when there isn't a larger cause to attach too, people become less motivated pretty quickly.

I'm still surprised they find all these 20 year old to just throw away their lives. 

 

[ChiefD]

Man, this thread just pretty much sums up this world right now.

You have a tragedy motivated by ideals and hate from one party inflicted on people. You have responses in this thread to this tragedy motivated by the desire to be right, fueled by underlying hate to argue semantics over how the dang thing is being reported. Or labeled. Or politics. Or whatever. All for what?

To be right? To win? To prove you are better at disseminating news?

Why hate? God it's perplexing. When at the core, we have a guy who killed a ton of people senselessly. And that is sad. 

Love beats all. 

 

[Da Guru]

We need a "Terror" sub forum.

 

[kface]

Man, this thread just pretty much sums up this world right now.

You have a tragedy motivated by ideals and hate from one party inflicted on people. You have responses in this thread to this tragedy motivated by the desire to be right, fueled by underlying hate to argue semantics over how the dang thing is being reported. Or labeled. Or politics. Or whatever. All for what?

To be right? To win? To prove you are better at disseminating news?

Why hate? God it's perplexing. When at the core, we have a guy who killed a ton of people senselessly. And that is sad. 

Love beats all. 

Beautiful post

Kids lying dead on a street, families just devasted but I don't like the way CNN reported it...come on

 

[Sand]

Kids lying dead on a street, families just devasted but I don't like the way CNN reported it...come on

Seems like everyone was showing that damn video.  Last thing I need to see are dead kids on the street - turned it off.

 

[El Floppo]

2 dead in Finland after man stabs 8 people. :(

one of our better friends is Finnish and there now. August is a huge holiday month throughout Europe, but for some reason especially in Finland. 

TURKU, Finland (Reuters) - A man with a knife killed two people and wounded at least six in a stabbing rampage in a market square in the Finnish city of Turku on Friday, police said.

Police shot the suspected attacker in the leg and arrested him. They said they had yet to establish the identity of the man who appeared to be of foreign origin, or his motive.

They warned people to stay away from the city and reinforced security nationwide, with increased patrols and more surveillance, in case more people were involved. People were allowed to return to the city centre a few hours later.

"At this stage, there is only one suspect and we are investigating whether there are more people involved ... but it looks likely (he was alone)," said Markus Laine from the National Bureau of Investigation.

"At this stage, we do not investigate this (as a terrorism attack) but the possibility has not been ruled out," he told a news conference.

Interior Minister Paula Risikko said: "We have not been able to confirm the person's identity... we have been in contact with the immigration service as the person looks like a foreigner."

Eyewitnesses described the panic at the scene.

"A man walked towards the ice cream stand where I work, and he hit a woman three times. He started running, went past my kiosk, and he had a knife in his hand," Terttu Lehtinen told Reuters.

A cell phone picture from Turku Market Square, where several people were stabbed, Turku, Finland August 18, 2017. LEHTIKUVA via REUTERS

She said that some other men ran behind, apparently chasing him.

"We were sitting by the market square, just enjoying the afternoon. Suddenly people started screaming and yelling, they were hysterical," said another witness, who gave her name only as Reetta.

"We started running towards our car and, as we got there, my boyfriend said a woman had been stabbed several times in the neck," she told Reuters.

The six wounded were taken to hospital, police said.

Prime Minister Juha Sipila said: "My deepest condolences to the families and close-ones of the Turku victims. The events of the day are shocking us all." He added that the government would meet later.

Finland is usually peaceful but the Security Intelligence Service raised the terrorism threat level in June, saying it had become aware of terrorism-related plans in Finland.

The government has grown more concerned about attacks, partly since an Uzbek man killed four people in neighbouring Sweden in April by driving a hijacked truck into crowd in central Stockholm.

On Thursday, a suspected Islamist militant drove a van into crowds in Barcelona, Spain, killing 13 people and wounding scores of others.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said: "It is with great concern that I have learnt of the violent attacks in Turku, Finland. While details are still emerging, we strongly condemn this unprovoked attack which comes only 24 hours after the horror that unfolded in Spain."

 

[Ilov80s]

I see this thread didn't get the posts a Terror Attack thread usually gets. This is my first post here. Are we just burnt out on it? Why is it getting less attention?

 

[tjnc09]

Awesome job by Spaniard police killing 5 dooshes in Cambril before they could do more damage

Apparently one policewoman killed four of them.  

 

[tjnc09]

I see this thread didn't get the posts a Terror Attack thread usually gets. This is my first post here. Are we just burnt out on it? Why is it getting less attention?

Because the regulars to these threads don't leave the politics subforum now

 

[comfortably numb]

Apparently one policewoman killed four of them.  

That's hot!

 

[Ilov80s]

Because the regulars to these threads don't leave the politics subforum now

Good point, I forgot about that. This is probably a much better thread for it. 

 

[El Floppo]

from the WaPo

BARCELONA — Spanish police expanded their hunt Friday for a man who swerved his van onto Barcelona’s Las Ramblas promenade, as evidence of a wider web of plotters took shape after the worst terrorist attack on Spain in more than a decade.

Investigators were still untangling the chain of events. But they believe at least eight people plotted Thursday’s Barcelona attack and another one south of the city early Friday, which evinced a level of sophistication comparable to major strikes in Paris and Brussels in recent years. Other more recent attacks in Nice, Berlin and London were perpetrated by individuals operating largely on their own.

In a sign that the attack could have been significantly worse, police said that a major gas explosion destroyed a house being used by the assailants hours before the van veered into crowds in Barcelona. Propane and butane canisters were found on the scene, and authorities believed they were intended for use against civilians.

As of Friday evening, authorities had detained three Moroccan men and a Spaniard, but the main suspect — the driver of the van, who fled on foot after the rampage — was believed to remain at large. Police also were investigating the possibility that he was among five assailants killed in the second attack early Friday.

In Washington, the State Department said Friday that an American was among those killed. The department also said Spanish authorities still have not identified all of the casualties, so the U.S. Consulate in Barcelona is working with them to determine whether any more Americans were killed or injured.

Also on the forefront for investigators: trying to piece together the extent of the network that carried out Thursday’s carnage in Barcelona and a second vehicle rampage in Cambrils, a seaside town about 60 miles south of Barcelona, that left at least one person dead — raising the overall death toll to 14.

The Islamic State claimed links to the Barcelona attack, but the level of involvement by the militant faction was unclear.

Spanish intelligence officials were circulating at least four names among their European counterparts on Friday, according to a Spanish intelligence official and a European intelligence official, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the situation.

The four men, all holding Moroccan citizenship, ranged in age from 18 to 24. Three were born in the North African country: Said Aallaa, 18; Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22; and Mohamed Hychami, 24. The fourth was identified in a Spanish police document as Moussa Oukabir, 17, but the European intelligence official said Spanish officials had flagged someone with the same family name but a different first name. All lived in or near the Catalan town of Ripoll, close to the French border.

At least three of the men were killed in the attack in Cambrils, the Spanish intelligence official said, without identifying which of the men were believed killed.

Two Spanish security officials said police originally sought Oukabir’s older brother because his identity card was found in the truck used for the attack in Barcelona. The older brother, who is currently in custody, denies any connection to the attack and said his brother may have stolen his identity card, the official said.

 

[El Floppo]

Because the regulars to these threads don't leave the politics subforum now

Good point, I forgot about that. This is probably a much better thread for it. 

yeah- there was a real minimum of political grand-standing and endless arguing. 

tbh, when I started the thread, I assumed that even though initial reports were calling it an van accident that it would draw these kind of arguments... seriously considered putting it in the politics forum. 

 

[Ilov80s]

yeah- there was a real minimum of political grand-standing and endless arguing. 

tbh, when I started the thread, I assumed that even though initial reports were calling it an van accident that it would draw these kind of arguments... seriously considered putting it in the politics forum. 

I actually posted a thread in the Political Forum because I didn't see one in there. Then I clicked here, saw the thread and deleted the one I started. In retrospect,  I made the correct decision. 

 

[El Floppo]

I actually posted a thread in the Political Forum because I didn't see one in there. Then I clicked here, saw the thread and deleted the one I started. In retrospect,  I made the correct decision. 

I prefer having a place to just share news updates rather than editorials... and this time it mostly worked out that way.

but there's room for both, IMO- especially now that there's the political forum. people who choose to can argue this stuff while the blood is still wet.

 

[Sand]

Apparently one policewoman killed four of them.  

Are there pics out there?

 

[Sand]

So this girl was in London, Paris, and now Barcelona and managed to escape from all three terror attacks.  Some odd luck there.

 

[msommer]

Apparently one policewoman killed four of them.  

The former special forces soldier, now policeman who killed the four terrorists would be surprised at the news of his sex change operation

 

[msommer]

So this girl was in London, Paris, and now Barcelona and managed to escape from all three terror attacks.  Some odd luck there.

My dad was in Paris when that police officer was stabbed. Couldn't get back to his hotel for hours because everything around Notre Dame was on lockdown

 

[msommer]

And the last suspect has been killed by police, some 30 miles from Barcelona.

Apparently the group was 12 men all together who had amassed 200 propane bottles that they would load into three rented vans and blow up. Fortunately for everyone they screwed up when making the bomb, blowing themselves up (2 dead, four in custody). so the remaining six came up with the van attacks (or maybe it was plan B to begin with).

One of the dead is thought to be an Imam who is believed responsible for radicalizing the young men.

 

[El Floppo]

And the last suspect has been killed by police, some 30 miles from Barcelona.

Apparently the group was 12 men all together who had amassed 200 propane bottles that they would load into three rented vans and blow up. Fortunately for everyone they screwed up when making the bomb, blowing themselves up (2 dead, four in custody). so the remaining six came up with the van attacks (or maybe it was plan B to begin with).

One of the dead is thought to be an Imam who is believed responsible for radicalizing the young men.

thanks for that.

article in the NYTimes... (article has some graphics that didn't make the copy/paste)

SUBIRATS, Spain — The fugitive believed to have driven the van in last week’s terrorist attacks in Spain was shot dead by the police on Monday in a village outside Barcelona after a Europeanwide dragnet, the police announced.

The fugitive, Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, used a van to mow down a crowd on Las Ramblas, Barcelona’s central boulevard, last Thursday, killing 13 people, according to the police. He then stole a car, killed its driver and made his getaway with the driver’s body still inside.

A manhunt stretching across Europe was undertaken, and France, Italy and other countries tightened security and border controls amid widespread speculation that Mr. Abouyaaqoub might have fled Spain. Over the weekend, the authorities had said they could not be certain that he was still on Spanish soil.

But at 4:10 p.m. Monday, attention quickly turned to Subirats, a collection of villages about 20 miles west of Barcelona. The town was placed on lockdown as the authorities announced that a man wearing an explosive belt had been “shot down.”

The identity of the suspect was not clear for about two hours; a robot, operated by a police bomb squad, was going through the explosive device to ensure that there was no danger. But at 6:20 p.m., the police announced that the man who had been shot was indeed Mr. Abouyaaqoub.

Residents of Subirats appeared frightened but unharmed.

“They told us to keep inside, to be ready for anything,” Pere Pons, the mayor of Subirats, told Catalan radio. “A little while ago the police called us to stay in our houses. To keep calm, to wait for more police to arrive.”

He added: “The entire town is surrounded by police.”

The police operation was continuing, however, amid reports that the fugitive may have had an accomplice during his flight and that the police were inspecting an abandoned van. The authorities in Sant Sadurní, another town west of Barcelona, issued a message on Twitter warning residents of a police intervention and urging them to remain calm.

The death toll from the attacks rose to 15 on Monday. In addition to the 13 people killed in the van attack in Barcelona, a 14th person died hours later in a related attack in the town of Cambrils, and the police on Monday announced a 15th victim: the driver of the car that Mr. Abouyaaqoub stole and used to make his escape.

The attacks were Spain’s deadliest terrorist assault since 2004, when terrorists bombed commuter trains in Madrid, killing 192 people.

Also on Monday, the authorities said that an imam believed to have inspired the twin attacks had almost certainly died on Wednesday when a house that the terrorists used as a bomb factory blew up — an event that appears to have precipitated the attacks.

The imam, Abdelbaki Essati, preached in the town of Ripoll, home to many of the members of the terrorist cell, which the authorities say included at least 12 people.

Investigators believe the planning for the plot may have begun not long after Mr. Essati’s arrival, a year ago, at the second of two mosques where he worked in Ripoll.

The remains of two people were found at the house where the explosion took place, in the town of Alcanar, south of Barcelona.

Maj. Josep Lluís Trapero, the police chief in the Catalonia region, of which Barcelona is the capital, said at a news conference on Monday that the police had “solid indications” that Mr. Essati was one of them, although they were awaiting the results of DNA tests. The other is yet to be positively identified.

The police also said on Monday that they were certain that Mr. Abouyaaqoub was the driver of the van.

They released surveillance camera images of Mr. Abouyaaqoub, wearing a striped polo shirt, and gave details about how he managed to escape from downtown Barcelona. “We believe he was the only one in the van and driving it,” Major Trapero said.

Mr. Abouyaaqoub fled on foot from Las Ramblas, the police said, and crossed another popular tourist destination, La Boqueria, a busy food market. He then spotted a stationary car in the city’s university district, killed the owner and put the body on the back seat. Then he forced his way through a police check point.

The driver, Pau Pérez, was found stabbed to death in his vehicle on the outskirts of Barcelona.

Two of the 15 people killed were children, including a 7-year-old who had Australian and British citizenship. Six victims were Spanish, including one who also held an Argentine passport. Three were Italians, two were Portuguese, one Belgian, one American and one Canadian, the authorities said.

Fifty of the victims remained in hospitals on Monday, 12 of them in critical condition, down from the 126 who were taken to the hospital immediately after the attacks.

The police chief said that the investigation had gained an international dimension, implying that other countries’ police and intelligence agencies were now involved, but did not provide details.

He also would not comment on reports that the imam had longstanding ties to extremists and had spent time overseas, including in Belgium early last year, shortly before terrorists attacked the airport and subway in Brussels. The imam spent time in prison in Spain on drug-related charges, but had no record for terrorism-related activities.

Major Trapero defended the level of police surveillance ahead of the attacks.

The country has avoided major acts of jihadist terrorism since the Brussels attack, even as the Islamic State and other extremists struck other cities across Europe.

Major Trapero said that it would be “playing dirty” to accuse the police of lapses, and that the police had never received information that would have justified acting against members of the cell.

Asked why nobody had raised the alarm in Alcanar, as terrorists stored over 100 gas cylinders in their bomb-making house, Major Trapero said: “We have to be cautious not to criminalize the ones who didn’t see or act.”

Even with Mr. Abouyaaqoub on the run, Spain kept its level of terrorism alert on Monday at four, on a scale from one to five.

At a news conference in Madrid, Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido praised the “fluid” cooperation between the authorities in Barcelona and Madrid since the attacks. Mr. Zoido urged citizens to join a march next Saturday in Barcelona to condemn terrorism. “We all make ours the suffering of Barcelona,” he said.