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Danny Boyle — Telegraph.co.uk Aug 18, 2017

Police officers by upturned car used to target civilians in the second terror attack in Cambrils Spain

Police officers by upturned car used to target civilians in the second terror attack in Cambrils, Spain, Friday morning. Click to enlarge

Five terrorists wearing fake suicide belts have been shot dead by police after ramming civilians with a car in a Spanish seaside town in a second attack to hit the country, as officials revealed they believe a gas canister atrocity was being planned.

Seven people, including a police officer, were injured in the vehicle attack in Cambrils – hours after a rampaging van driver left 13 people dead and more than 100 wounded around 70 miles away in Barcelona.

Bystanders ran for their lives as gunfire broke out close to the coastal town’s beachfront promenade early on Friday. Residents were ordered to take cover indoors as bullets tore through the air.

Investigators later revealed that they believe a cell of eight people might have been involved and had been planning an attack with gas canisters.

In the wake of the carnage in Cambrils, several controlled blasts were carried out in the area. Police said the attackers had been wearing explosive belts, which experts later concluded were fake.

Investigators said they are working on the theory that the attacks in Cambrils and Barcelona, as well as an explosion at a house in the town of Alcanar on Wednesday, are linked.

A major manhunt for the driver of the van that mowed down holidaymakers and locals on Las Ramblas – a popular tourist thoroughfare in Barcelona – is continuing.

Three people have so far been arrested over the attack, including Driss Oukabir, a 28-year-old Moroccan who is believed to have rented the van used in Barcelona.

The second arrested man, a Spanish national from Melilla, has not been named. The third person, who was arrested in the Spanish city of Ripoll on Friday morning, is believed to be an associate of Oukabir and not the van driver, who fled unarmed and remains on the run.

The third arrested man could have been the driver of a car that drove into a police checkpoint on Thursday night, investigators believe.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest on Spanish soil since more than 190 people died in the Madrid train bombs in 2004. Stay with us for the latest updates.

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