Barcelona attack: Police name driver of van
By Tim Lister and James Masters, CNN
Updated 1157 GMT (1957 HKT) August 21, 2017
Barcelona (CNN)The man suspected of killing 13 people and injuring over 120 others when he plowed his van into crowds of people in Barcelona on Thursday has been identified by Catalan authorities as Younes Abouyaaqoub.
Abouyaaqoub, who remains at large, was the only driver of the van, according to Catalan Interior Minister Joaquim Form.
Police have been hunting for Abouyaaqoub, a 22-year-old Moroccan national, since the attack but had not confirmed him as the driver of the van that hit crowds of people on Las Ramblas in Barcelona in the early evening on Thursday.
Buscamos a esta persona como el presunto autor del atentado de Las Ramblas. Sería el conductor de la furgoneta. Máxima difusión.
Police told a news conference Monday that Abouyaaqoub fled the scene of the attack on foot and hijacked a car to escape.
Police fired on the car after it rammed through a checkpoint Thursday night but Abouyaaqoub was able to flee a second time. The car's owner, named as Pau Perez, was found stabbed to death in the vehicle. He becomes the 15th victim of the attack.
Forn: “We want to confirm the death of the person found in Sant Just. The death toll of the attacks has therefore been raised from 14 to 15”
Spain's Ministry of Interior tweeted a CCTV photo of Abouyaaqoub Monday, asking for it to be shared on social media.
Speaking to local radio Monday, Form said all the evidence pointed to Abouyaaqoub being the driver and that security services were working with other agencies around Europe to find him.
Police carried out more raids overnight at homes in the town of Ripoll, where many of the suspects in the attack lived, Forn said, according to Reuters.
On Sunday, Catalonia Police Chief Josep Luis Trapero told reporters that he could not confirm whether Abouyaaqoub had already crossed the French border.
"If we knew that he was in Spain and where, we would go after him," Trapero said Sunday. "We don't know where he is."
Abouyaaqoub is one of 12 terror suspects linked to the Barcelona attack who did not have previous records or intelligence files related to terrorism, according to Trapero.
Handout images released by the Catalan regional police on August 18 shows four suspects of the Barcelona and Cambrils attacks (from top L): Moussa Oukabir, Said Aallaa, Mohamed Hychami and Younes Abouyaaqoub.
On Saturday, Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoida said that the terror cell believed to be responsible for the attack on Las Ramblas and Cambrils, which left one dead and six injured, had been "completely dismantled."
Three of the five suspects killed by police in Cambrils were identified by a Catalan police spokesman as Moussa Oukabir, Said Aallaa and Mohamed Hychami.
Eight of the 12 lived in Ripoll, a city north of Barcelona. Three were arrested, and one was Oukabir -- one of the dead suspects. Another arrest was made in the village of Alcanar.
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Police officers work at the scene in Cambrils.
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Police check people's identities as they clear Las Ramblas on August 17.
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People evacuate an area of Barcelona on August 17.
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Medics and police tend to injured people near the scene of the attack in Barcelona.
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A woman cries as she speaks on her phone in Barcelona on August 17.
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People react after the incident in Barcelona.
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A police officer asks people to move back in Barcelona.
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An injured person is carried by police in Barcelona.
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People flee the scene after the attack at Las Ramblas.
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The Catalan emergency services urged people via Twitter to avoid going out or undertaking any other type of movement that is not "strictly necessary."
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A makeshift memorial pays tribute to those who were killed in a terror attack in Barcelona, Spain, on Thursday, August 17. A van rammed into a crowd of people near the popular tourist area of Las Ramblas. Early the next morning, a group of five attackers drove into pedestrians in the Spanish town of Cambrils, about 75 miles south of Barcelona.
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Two women cry at the street memorial in Barcelona on Friday, August 18.
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A man embraces a police officer in Cambrils on August 18. Earlier in the day, officers had engaged in a shootout with five attackers who drove a car into several pedestrians. All five were shot dead by police, four of them by one officer, police said.
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Pigeons fly over a Barcelona crowd that gathered for a minute of silence on August 18.
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Spain's King Felipe VI joins other officials in observing a minute of silence in Barcelona's Plaça de Catalunya.
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Police officers investigate a car in Cambrils.
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The van that plowed into the crowd in Barcelona is towed away from Las Ramblas on August 18.
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Police officers check the area after towing away the van.
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Police accompany clients of a store outside a cordoned off-area of Barcelona. Las Ramblas is especially crowded in the summer, the height of tourist season. The promenade passes by kiosks, flower sellers, cafes and bars.
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Police officers work at the scene in Cambrils.
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Police check people's identities as they clear Las Ramblas on August 17.
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People evacuate an area of Barcelona on August 17.
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Medics and police tend to injured people near the scene of the attack in Barcelona.
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A woman cries as she speaks on her phone in Barcelona on August 17.
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People react after the incident in Barcelona.
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A police officer asks people to move back in Barcelona.
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An injured person is carried by police in Barcelona.
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People flee the scene after the attack at Las Ramblas.
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The Catalan emergency services urged people via Twitter to avoid going out or undertaking any other type of movement that is not "strictly necessary."
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Photos: Terror attacks in Spain
A makeshift memorial pays tribute to those who were killed in a terror attack in Barcelona, Spain, on Thursday, August 17. A van rammed into a crowd of people near the popular tourist area of Las Ramblas. Early the next morning, a group of five attackers drove into pedestrians in the Spanish town of Cambrils, about 75 miles south of Barcelona.
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Photos: Terror attacks in Spain
Two women cry at the street memorial in Barcelona on Friday, August 18.
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A man embraces a police officer in Cambrils on August 18. Earlier in the day, officers had engaged in a shootout with five attackers who drove a car into several pedestrians. All five were shot dead by police, four of them by one officer, police said.
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Photos: Terror attacks in Spain
Pigeons fly over a Barcelona crowd that gathered for a minute of silence on August 18.
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Spain's King Felipe VI joins other officials in observing a minute of silence in Barcelona's Plaça de Catalunya.
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Police officers investigate a car in Cambrils.
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The van that plowed into the crowd in Barcelona is towed away from Las Ramblas on August 18.
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Police officers check the area after towing away the van.
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Police accompany clients of a store outside a cordoned off-area of Barcelona. Las Ramblas is especially crowded in the summer, the height of tourist season. The promenade passes by kiosks, flower sellers, cafes and bars.
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Police officers work at the scene in Cambrils.
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A neighbor of Oukabir in Ripoll, Raimon Garcia, said Oukabir was one of four siblings -- two brothers and two sisters.
Oukabir's brother, Driss, was among those arrested. He turned himself into police when his identification was found in the Barcelona van, telling authorities he wasn't involved in the attack.
A man who claimed to be a cousin of the brothers said Moussa Oukabir was "brainwashed."
A woman who lives next to a mosque in the neighborhood told CNN that she had witnessed the Oukabir brothers attending the place of worship "every day for many years."
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