“But the jihadists had accidentally detonated an explosive at the house on the eve of Thursday’s attack in Barcelona, an error that likely forced them to modify their plans.”
And so they turned to vehicular jihad.
“Spain attack fugitive whereabouts unknown as Barcelona mourns,” by Daniel Bosque and Hui Min Neo, AFP, August 19, 2017:
Barcelona (AFP) – Spanish police said Sunday that the Moroccan man suspected of driving the van used in one of the devastating twin attacks that claimed 14 lives could be at large outside Spain, as grief-stricken Barcelona mourned victims of the vehicle rampage.
“We don’t know where he is,” said regional police chief Josep Lluis Trapero, referring to 22-year-old suspect Younes Abouyaaqoub, as officials confirmed that the cell behind the carnage had been preparing “one or more” assaults in Barcelona.
More than 120 gas canisters have been uncovered in a house where the suspects were believed to have been building bombs, Trapero said.
But the jihadists had accidentally detonated an explosive at the house on the eve of Thursday’s attack in Barcelona, an error that likely forced them to modify their plans.
Instead, a vehicle was used to smash into crowds on Barcelona’s Las Ramblas boulevard as it was thronged with tourists, killing 13 people and injuring about 100.
Several hours later, there was another attack in the seaside town of Cambrils in which one woman was killed.
Police shot and killed the five attackers in Cambrils, some of whom were wearing fake explosive belts and carrying knifes….