Spain: Police say Barcelona truck crash is “terrorist attack”

Last June, the Islamic State published a poster depicting an SUV driving over a heap of skulls and bearing the legend “Run Over Them Without Mercy.”

And the Islamic State issued this call in September 2014:

So O muwahhid, do not let this battle pass you by wherever you may be. You must strike the soldiers, patrons, and troops of the tawaghit. Strike their police, security, and intelligence members, as well as their treacherous agents. Destroy their beds. Embitter their lives for them and busy them with themselves. If you can kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be….If you are not able to find an IED or a bullet, then single out the disbelieving American, Frenchman, or any of their allies. Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him….

“LIVE: Barcelona van crash is ‘terrorist attack,'” Sky News, August 17, 2017:

12:02

TV3 reporting that the two armed men entered a Turkish restaurant
11:59

Video footage posted online shows people lying on the ground for 200 yards along the pavement in Las Ramblas, many of them very badly hurt
11:55

El Pais newspaper is reporting that one person has been killed, and 20 people injured. That has not been confirmed
11:54

Interior ministry is telling people in the area to remain where they are until police tell them they can leave
11:49

Local media is reporting that two armed men have entered a restaurant in Barcelona following the van crash
11:45

Images from Spanish TV broadcasters have shown people lying on the ground being helped by police officers
11:43

Number of people run over after van hit crowds in the Las Ramblas area of Barcelona. Several injured
Barcelona police say the crash is a “terrorist attack”
Driver of vehicle reportedly fled on foot after the crash
Reports of armed men entering restaurant shortly after crash
Metro and railway stations closed near the incident and people warned to stay away from the Placa Catalunya

11:41

Las Ramblas is an iconic tourist hotspot in the Catalonian city.

It is full of stalls and shops and runs through the heart of Barcelona. The centre of the road is pedestrianised, but cars can travel on either side
11:40

El Pais newspaper, citing a police source, has said the driver of the van fled the scene after the crash
11:39

Tweet from the interior ministry. It reads:

A large number of people have been run over on Las Ramblas in Barcelona by a person in a van. Several injuries
11:37

Image from the scene, with emergency services attending to seemingly injured people
expanded thumbnail
11:35

Lawyer Aamer Anwar, who is at a conference in the city, said: “All of a sudden I heard a crashing noise, and the whole street just started to run screaming.

“I saw a woman next to me screaming for her kids.”…