'Terror cell behind Barcelona terror attacks dismantled'

Spain's Princess Letizia speaks with one of the victims of the van attacks, at a hospital in Barcelona. Pic/AP

The terror cell behind Spain's deadly twin attacks has been "dismantled", Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said on Saturday, although local authorities took a more cautious tone. "The cell has been completely dismantled," he said, speaking of the group that is believed to have consisted of at least 12 young men, many of them Moroccan, some teenagers.

Probe not over
But Joaquim Forn, in charge of interior matters in Catalonia where the attacks took place, downplayed Zoido's comments. "We can't say the investigation is finished until we locate or detain all those who are part of this terror cell," he said.

With investigators working round the clock to identify the network behind the bloodshed, police said they were hunting for 22-year-old Younes Abouyaaqoub without confirming reports he was the driver who ploughed a van into pedestrians in Barcelona on Thursday. Spanish police expanded a manhunt on Saturday

ISIS hand
"Soldiers of the Islamic State group carried out a deadly attack in the Spanish seaside resort of Cambrils", the jihadist organisation's propaganda outlet Amaq said on Saturday.