Knife-wielding man attacks police in Barcelona, is shot dead

MADRID, Spain — A man armed with a knife was killed when he attacked a police station near the northeastern Spanish city of Barcelona early Monday, police said.

“A man armed with a knife entered the police station in Cornella to attack the officers. The attacker was shot,” the Catalonia regional police said on Twitter.

A police spokesman refused to comment on local media reports that the man was from Algeria and had shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) during the attack.

The incident occurred days after the first anniversary of a deadly jihadist rampage in Catalonia.

Sixteen people were killed on August 17, 2017, when a van drove into crowds on the popular Las Ramblas boulevard in the heart of Barcelona and in a knife attack in the nearby resort of Cambrils.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for those attacks.