Barcelona Death Toll Rises, Another Suspect Arrested

Barcelona Death Toll Rises, Another Suspect Arrested

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack that killed at least 14.

By Katelyn Newman , Digital Producer, Staff Writer Aug. 18, 2017, at 9:17 a.m.

Barcelona Death Toll Rises, Another Suspect Arrested
Candles and bunches of flowers placed by people rest on the ground in Las Ramblas, Barcelona, Spain, Friday. (AP/Francisco Seco)

Candles and bunches of flowers rest on the ground in Las Ramblas, Barcelona, Spain, Friday. (FRANCISCO SECO/AP)

 Police continue to search for the driver behind the vehicular attack in Barcelona that killed at least 14 and injured dozens more.

The attack on the popular tourist boulevard of Las Ramblas injured at least 80 people when a van jumped the curb and plowed through a crowd. A woman wounded in the vehicular attack Thursday succumbed to her injuries Friday, raising the death toll to 14. The Islamic State groupclaimed responsibility for the incident.

The victims of the assault came from 34 different countries, according to Catalan emergency service. The French Foreign Ministry announced in a statement Friday that 26 of the victims were French, with at least 11 in serious condition.

Hours after the Barcelona attack, police fatally shot five terrorists in Cambrils, a seaside town 70 miles south, foiling what they believe was a second vehicular attack. The suspects were wearing what appeared to be explosive belts, but later turned out to be fake. Six civilians and one police officer were also injured, according to Catalan emergency services.

Police detained a fourth suspect Friday in connection to the two attacks in Ripoll, about 66 miles north of Barcelona. They also said the driver, who fled the scene of the crime in Barcelona and whose identity is still unknown, remains at large. None of the attackers had a history of terrorism-related events, police said.

 The two attacks, the deadliest in Spain in more than a decade, are the latest in a string of incidents throughout Europe in which assailants used vehicles to harm civilians, law enforcement and soldiers.

A moment of silence was taken at noon Friday in Catalonia Square in remembrance of the victims and in rejection of the attack. Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Brey tweeted that the attack shows the “global battle” against terrorism.

 United to condemn the barbarism, “we will defeat terrorism,” he tweeted.

The Catalan police tweeted that they believe the attacks had been planned months in advance out of Alcanar, a coastal town about 57 miles south of Cambrils and 126 miles south of Barcelona.

Raw: Barcelona Tense After Van Hits Crowd