Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Deadly Attack in Barcelona

Minutes after the identity of one of the suspects in the "terrorist attack" in Barcelona was announced by the Spanish police, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. On Thursday evening, August 17, the Spanish police announced that a 28-year-old Moroccan national named "Idris Oukabir" was arrested as one of the suspects in the attack that occurred on Thursday in Barcelona. News agencies also reported the arrest of another suspect whose identity has not yet been disclosed. The attack involved a van driving into pedestrians in the historic Rambla area of Barcelona, leaving dozens dead and injured. State officials in Catalonia reported that the number of fatalities was 12 and the number of injured exceeded 80. According to the Spanish newspaper El País, the arrested suspect, Idris Oukabir, is a Moroccan citizen who had legal residency in Spain. Reports indicate that Mr. Oukabir had a criminal record in Spain and was released from police custody in 2012. Counter-terrorism sources told El País that the arrested individual returned to Spain from Morocco four days prior, on August 13. The police also informed the publication that Oukabir, born in 1989, resided in the town of Ripoll, Spain, and had rented the white van from Santa Perpètua, north of Barcelona. On Thursday, the Catalan police also announced that in another attack, a driver of a vehicle who had attacked two police officers at a checkpoint was killed. According to the Associated Press, the Spanish police did not clarify whether this attack was related to the "terrorist attack" in the Rambla area of Barcelona. Local media reported that a white Ford vehicle fled the scene after attacking two police officers at a checkpoint, but police were able to stop the vehicle three kilometers away from the incident. The driver of the vehicle was shot dead by the police. The use of vehicles to carry out attacks and street violence is one of the methods that Al-Qaeda recommended to its supporters in 2010, and in recent years, the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for several attacks carried out using this method. Countries such as the UK, Sweden, Germany, France, and Austria have witnessed vehicle-based attacks over the past two years, with the Islamic State claiming responsibility for many of these attacks. Additionally, in recent years, some Palestinians have also resorted to such attacks and street violence against Israeli citizens. Meanwhile, according to Reuters, the attack on Thursday in Barcelona is the deadliest attack in Spain since the 2004 Madrid incident, where Islamist militants killed 191 people and injured over 1,800 by bombing three Madrid subway stations.