Police in Spain have linked three rental vans to the main fugitive from an Islamic extremist cell that carried out deadly vehicle attacks in Barcelona and a nearby seaside resort.
A police official says that all three vans were rented using the credit card of Younes Abouyaaquoub, the 22-year-old Moroccan suspected of plowing down pedestrians on Barcelona’s Las Ramblas promenade Thursday, killing 13 and injuring 120.
He remains at large and is the subject of a massive manhunt in northeastern Spain.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to talk about an ongoing investigation, said one of the vans was used in the Barcelona attack. Another was found in Vic, 70 kilometers (44 miles) north of Barcelona on the road to Ripoll, where all the main attack suspects lived. The third was found in Ripoll itself.
Police believe the cell wanted to fill the vehicles with explosives to create a massive attack. The plans changed, however, after the house where their plot was being hatched blew up Wednesday in Alcanar.
— AP
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