Moroccan national Driss Oukabir has been identified by police as a suspect in a vehicle attack in Barcelona on Thursday evening that is believed to have left at least 13 people dead.
Carles Puigdemont, president of the Catalonia region, said two people have been arrested, but it’s unclear whether Oukabir was among those taken into custody, or how many people were involved in total.
Oukabir is in his 20s, and is said to be a Moroccan citizen, and a legal resident of Spain.
Reports say his documentation was found in or near the white Fiat van that plowed into a crowd in the city’s busy Las Ramblas area, which he was suspected of renting, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais.
However, the mayor of Ripoll says Oukabir was taken into custody when he was on his way to a police station to report the theft of his documentation. La Vanguardia reports that police are also investigating the role of Driss’s brother, Moussa Oukabir.
The newspaper added that Oukabir was known to police, and had previously spent time in prison.
READ MORE: What to know about the popular Las Ramblas district
Another Spanish news outlet, ABC, reported that Oukabir was previously arrested over “family mistreatment” and sexual abuse allegations.
According to The Guardian, the suspect had posted on his Facebook page that he lived in Marseilles, France, but had moved to a town called Ripoll in Catalonia. Oukabir’s Facebook page has now been taken down.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility of the attack, which injured at least 80 others, hours after it occurred.
READ MORE: At least 13 dead, 50 injured after terror attack in Barcelona’s city centre
“The perpetrators of the Barcelona attack are soldiers of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting coalition states,” the group’s new agency said, referring to a United States-led coalition against the Sunni militant group.
It’s not yet clear if or how Oukabir was involved with the group.
Another group of terrorists were killed during a police operation Thursday night in a Candrils, a town south of Barcelona. The identities of the terrorists were not released.
— With a file from Reuters
Comments