Search widens for van attack driver

Details emerge of how he fled on foot before disappearing

BARCELONA - Spanish police on Monday extended the search for the man who killed 13 people in Barcelona to all of Europe as details emerged of how he fled on foot through the streets of the old town before disappearing after ramming a van into crowds.

Authorities are looking for Younes Abouyaaqoub, a 22-year-old Moroccan-born man, who they believe was behind the wheel of the van which left a trail of dead and injured on Barcelona's famed boulevard.

Abouyaaqoub abandoned the van after zigzagging down Las Ramblas avenue at high speed, and witnesses had seen him walking away unarmed from the scene, the police said.

Spanish papers El Pais and La Vanguardia said they had seen images of the man leaving Las Ramblas then crossing through La Boqueria food market, another tourist attraction, before disappearing.

El Pais published CCTV footage on Monday of a man wearing a black and white shirt similar to the one Abouyaaqoub wore when he was caught on a bank security camera the night before the attacks.

The Catalan regional government said all European police forces were now searching for Abouyaaqoub.

"This person is no longer just being sought in Catalonia but in all European countries, this is an effort by European police," Joaquim Forn, in charge of home affairs in the northeastern Spanish region, told Catalan radio.

Forn confirmed that police were now almost certain Abouyaaqoub was the driver.

"Everything points to that," he added.

Authorities have stepped up checks at Spain's borders.

They also raided more homes overnight in Ripoll, a town in the foothills of the Pyrenees and close to France where many of the suspects in a 12-strong cell thought to be behind the attack had lived.

Others thought to be part of the suspected extremist militant network have been arrested, shot by police or killed in an explosion at a house in Catalonia a day before Thursday's van attack.

The attack in Barcelona was linked to another hours later in the resort down of Cambrils, further down the Mediterranean coastline from Barcelona.

A car crashed into passersby there and the attackers got out to try and stab people. Five suspects were shot dead by police, while a woman died in the attack.

The regional government is due to give details about the investigation at a news conference later.

Spanish political leaders from all the main parties were also due to meet later on Monday to review security measures as part of cross-party efforts to unite on anti-terrorist efforts.

Reuters - Ap - Afp

(China Daily 08/22/2017 page11)