Police probe if body in car is 15th Spain victim

Spanish police say they are trying to establish if a man found dead inside a car on the outskirts of Barcelona is another victim of the extremist attack in the city.

Senior regional police officer Josep Lluis Trapero says that investigators haven’t yet linked the man discovered inside a car that struck two officers at a police checkpoint to either the Las Ramblas van attack or its suspects.

Trapero says they are “working intensely on this inquiry.”

He says police fired on the car after it broke through the checkpoint, within hours of the downtown attack Thursday. They initially thought they had killed the driver, but then discovered a dead person in the back seat.

An examination found no bullet wounds on the body, according to Trapero.

Trapero did not name the person found dead in the car nor say how he died.

He says a person was seen running near the vehicle and police are investigating whether this person was connected to the van attack.

— AP