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14 People Dead in Barcelona Van Attack – Driver at Large

<p>Fourteen people died and at least 100 others were injured in a series of terrorist attacks that hit Spain this week&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has declared three days of official mourning for the &ldquo&semi;jihadist attack&period;&rdquo&semi; &nbsp&semi;For those of us who are poltically incorrect&comma; that means Radical Islamic terrorism&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Here&rsquo&semi;s what we know&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Attack &num;1 &lpar;ISIS has claimed responsibility&rpar;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A van drove through Barcelona&rsquo&semi;s crowded Las Ramblas district on Thursday&period; According to reports&comma; 13 people were killed and dozens were hospitalized&period; At least 15 victims are in critical condition&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The attack occurred during the height of tourist season in Spain&period; The victims are from more than 30 countries&comma; including one American dead and another injured&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This is the eighth vehicle attack in Europe since 2016&period; It is the deadliest terror attack in Spain since 2004&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Police are still looking for the driver&comma; who fled the scene on foot&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The personal documents of French citizen Driss Oukabir were found in the van&period; Shortly after the attack&comma; Oukabir turned himself in&comma; explaining that his documents had been stolen&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Police believe the suspect to be Driss&rsquo&semi;s brother Moussa Oukabir&comma; age 17&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Two years ago&comma; someone using the name &ldquo&semi;Moussa Oukabir&rdquo&semi; wrote online that&comma; if he were king&comma; he would &ldquo&semi;kill all infidels and only spare Muslims who follow the religion&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Oukabir brothers are of Moroccan descent&period; &ldquo&semi;Moroccan networks were also connected to major terrorist attacks in France and Belgium in recent years&comma;&rdquo&semi; reports <em>The Washington Post&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Attack &num;2 &lpar;Stopped by police&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Another person died around 1&colon;00 am Friday morning&nbsp&semi;when an Audi drove into a crowd of people in the coastal town of Cambrils &lpar;about 60 miles southeast of Barcelona&rpar;&period; At least 7 others were injured&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There were five men in the car&period; All five were&nbsp&semi;shot to death by police before they could do any more damage&period; They were all carrying knives and wearing fake bomb belts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8212&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One more person was killed and another 16 were injured on Wednesday when a house exploded in Alcanar &lpar;120 miles southeast of Barcelona&rpar;&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The two vehicle attacks are believed to be connected&comma; and authorities suspect plotters had been using the house in Alcanar as a factory to produce a truck bomb&period; If they had been successful&comma; the carnage in Barcelona could have been even worse&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Spanish authorities believe the attacks are part of a &ldquo&semi;sophisticated and far-reaching plot that could have been much worse&comma;&rdquo&semi; reports&nbsp&semi;<em>The<&sol;em>&nbsp&semi;<em>New York Times&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Residents of Barcelona said they had long feared a terrorist attack would strike their bustling city&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;Usually I walk here feeling safe&period; Now I am afraid&comma; really afraid&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Estella Gil&comma; a teacher&rsquo&semi;s assistant who came to Las Ramblas in support of victim&rsquo&semi;s families&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;This is a huge city&comma; and somehow we were always expecting something like this&comma; but of course you&rsquo&semi;re never prepared&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Cristina Nadal&comma; an aide for the Catalan government&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Author&&num;8217&semi;s Note&colon;<&sol;strong> Roughly 4&percnt; of Spain&&num;8217&semi;s population is Muslim &lpar;about 2 million people&rpar;&period; If Spain becomes polarized like Germany and France&comma; its resources for fighting terrorism will likely become inadequate&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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