MADRID/BARCELONA: Spanish police have confirmed the main suspect in the Barcelona attack has been shot dead in Subirats, west of Barcelona.
Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, was the suspected driver of a van that mowed down crowds in Barcelona, killing 14 people.
He was wearing a suspected explosives belt which officers removed after shooting him.
Spanish police had previously declined to confirm media reports of his death, but said on Twitter shortly before that an “incident” was under way in Subirats, 10 km (6 miles) away.
The daughter of a Catalan vineyard owner told local media her father had alerted police after they saw a car crossing their property at high speed even though the vineyard was closed off.
In a tweet, police in Catalonia had said they knew who the driver was without naming him, but regional interior minister Joaquim Forn had said in a radio interview that “everything suggests the van driver is Younes Abouyaaqoub.”
The 22-year-old Moroccan is believed to be the last remaining member of a 12-person cell still at large in Spain or abroad, with the others killed by police or detained over last week’s twin attacks in Barcelona and the seaside resort of Cambrils.
Investigators have honed in on an imam, Abdelbaki Es Satty, aged in his 40s, who is among the suspects and is believed to have radicalized youths in Ripoll, a small town at the foot of the Pyrenees.
Several suspects — including Abouyaaqoub — grew up or lived there.
Police raided more homes there on Monday morning, Forn said.
Police said the imam had spent time in prison and had once been in contact with a suspect wanted on terrorism charges, without giving further details.
El Mundo newspaper reported that Satty had struck up a friendship in prison with Rachid Aglif, who is serving an 18-year sentence over the 2004 Madrid train bomb attacks, which killed 191 people.
Prosecutors in Belgium also said he had spent time in the country, without elaborating.
The imam has been missing since Tuesday. On Saturday, police raided his apartment. They have raised the possibility that he died in an explosion on Wednesday evening at a house believed to be the suspects’ bomb-making factory, where police uncovered a cache of 120 gas canisters.
The suspected jihadists had been preparing bombs for “one or more attacks in Barcelona,” regional police chief Josep Lluis Trapero told reporters, revealing that traces of triacetone triperoxide (TATP) — a homemade explosive that is a hallmark of the Daesh group — had also been found.
The suspects accidentally caused an explosion at the house on the eve of Thursday’s attack in Barcelona — an error that likely forced them to modify their plans.
Instead, they used a vehicle to smash into crowds on Barcelona’s Las Ramblas boulevard as it was thronged with tourists, killing 13 people and injuring about 100.
Several hours later, a similar attack in the seaside town of Cambrils left one woman dead. Police shot and killed the five attackers in Cambrils, some of whom were wearing fake explosive belts and carrying knives.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attacks, believed to be its first in Spain.
In the small town of Alcanar, investigators combed the rubble of the house believed to be the suspects’ bomb factory, where the gas canisters were uncovered.
A neighbor, 61-year-old French retiree Martine Groby, told AFP that four men “who all speak French” had been in the house next door since April.
“They were very discreet, too discreet. The shutters were closed, there was no music, no children, no women,” she recalled.
Most of the suspects are children of Moroccan immigrants, including Ripoll-born Moussa Oukabir, 17, one of five suspects shot dead in Cambrils. His older brother Driss is among the four arrested.
A cousin said Moussa “loved playing football, having a good time, chatting up girls.”
“The last few months, he started to become interested in religion. He used to go to a mosque in Ripoll. Maybe that’s where he was brainwashed,” the cousin said.
Three days after the attack that plunged the country into deep grief, locals and tourists turned out in force on Sunday at Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica.
King Felipe, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Catalonia’s president, Carles Puigdemont, led a 90-minute ceremony commemorating the victims, who came from three dozen countries, some as far afield as Australia, China and Peru.
In the evening, local football heroes FC Barcelona staged a minute’s silence at the 99,000-capacity Camp Nou stadium for their first game of the league season.
Barcelona stars including five-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi wore shirts with “Barcelona” replacing individual names on the back, while their opponents Real Betis carried the message “Real Betis with Barcelona” on theirs.
The list of individual tragedies lengthened as a seven-year-old British-Australian boy, Julian Cadman, who had been named as missing, was confirmed as being among the dead.
“He was so energetic, funny and cheeky, always bringing a smile to our faces,” his family said.
“We are so blessed to have had him in our lives and will remember his smiles and hold his memory dear to our hearts.”
BARCELONA ATTACK: Spanish police confirm main suspect shot dead
BARCELONA ATTACK: Spanish police confirm main suspect shot dead
Musk says ‘America Party’ is formed in US
- “By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!” he said
- “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom“
WASHINGTON: A day after asking his followers on X whether a new US political party should be created, Elon Musk said on Saturday that the “America Party is formed.”
“By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!” he said in a post on X.
“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”
The announcement from Musk comes after President Donald Trump signed a tax-cut and spending bill into law on Friday, which the billionaire chief executive officer of Tesla fiercely opposed.
Musk spent hundreds of millions on Trump’s re-election and led the Department of Government Efficiency under the Trump administration aimed at slashing government spending, but the two have since fallen out over disagreements about the bill.
Trump earlier this week threatened to cut off the billions of dollars in subsidies that Musk’s companies receive from the federal government.
Musk said previously that he would start a new political party and spend money to unseat lawmakers who supported the bill.
Republicans have expressed concern that Musk’s on-again, off-again feud with Trump could hurt their chances to protect their majority in the 2026 midterm congressional elections.
‘Can’t describe the pain’: Bosnia marks 30 years since Srebrenica massacre
- After decades of painstaking work, about 7,000 victims have been identified and properly buried, but about 1,000 remain missing
SARAJEVO: Three decades after the Srebrenica genocide, relatives are still looking for and burying the remains of more than 8,000 men and boys killed by Bosnian Serb forces, revealing the painful scars cut deep into the country.
On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces stormed the Muslim enclave of more than 40,000 people in eastern Bosnia.
At the time, it was a “UN protected zone” — an ultimately hollow phrase meant to shield the many displaced people who had fled the 1992-1995 war.
General Ratko Mladic’s forces executed thousands of men and boys before burying them in mass graves.
BACKGROUND
An international criminal court has sentenced Gen. Ratko Mladic, and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to life jail terms for war crimes and genocide during the conflict
After decades of painstaking work, about 7,000 victims have been identified and properly buried, but about 1,000 remain missing.
Mass grave discoveries are now rare. The last was uncovered in 2021, when the remains of 10 victims were exhumed 180 kilometers (112 miles) southwest of Srebrenica.
This year, the remains of seven victims will be buried during the July 11 commemorations at the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial Center, including two 19-year-old men and a 67-year-old woman.
“This year, I’m having my father buried. But only one bone, his lower jaw,” Mirzeta Karic told AFP.
The 50-year-old said her mother was very ill, and so she decided to go ahead with the burial without waiting for more remains to be found.
Her father, Sejdalija Alic, joined several thousand men and teenagers who tried to flee Mladic’s troops through the dense forests.
He failed.
His 22-year-old son, Sejdin, was also killed, as were Alic’s three brothers and their four sons.
He will be Karic’s 50th immediate family member laid to rest at Potocari cemetery.
The ceremony for her brother, Sejdin, was in 2003.
“I’ve been able to endure everything, but I think this funeral will be the worst. We’re having a bone buried. I can’t describe the pain.”
An international criminal court sentenced Mladic, now 83, and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, now 80, to life jail terms for war crimes and genocide during the conflict that left nearly 100,000 dead. Both are still incarcerated, but a proper reckoning inside the splintered Bosnian states remains overdue.
Political leaders in the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska, reject the term genocide and regularly downplay the massacre.
“This denial is trivialized,” Neira Sabanovic, a researcher at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, said.
“It is very rare to find someone in Republika Srpska who acknowledges that there was genocide,” she said.
Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik remains one of the most heard voices of genocide-denial in the statelet and Serbia.
Of 305 instances of denial or downplaying in Serbian and the Bosnian Serb media during 2024, he leads the way, appearing 42 times, according to an annual study published by the Srebrenica Memorial Center.
Last year, an international day of remembrance was established by the United Nations to mark the Srebrenica genocide, despite protests from Belgrade and Republika Srpska.
On Saturday, political leaders from the Bosnian Serb entity and Serbia, along with dignitaries from the Serbian Orthodox Church, will gather in Bratunac, near Srebrenica, for a commemoration of more than 3,200 eastern Bosnian Serb soldiers and civilians killed during the war.
Portraits of some 600 of these dead were hung along the road this week near the Srebrenica Memorial Center.
“These people are not participating in the same debate. They are having a conversation with themselves, and they are still in 1995,” the director of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, Emir Suljagic, told local television on Thursday.
“We have won a very important battle, the battle for international recognition,” he added, referring to the UN resolution.
Ukraine’s Zelensky says latest phone call with Trump his most productive yet
- “It was probably the best conversation we have had during this whole time, the most productive,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
- “We discussed air defense issues and I’m grateful for the willingness to help”
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that his latest conversation with US President Donald Trump this week was the best and “most productive” he has had to date.
“Regarding the conversation with the president of the United States, which took place a day earlier, it was probably the best conversation we have had during this whole time, the most productive,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
“We discussed air defense issues and I’m grateful for the willingness to help. The Patriot system is precisely the key to protection against ballistic threats.”
Zelensky said the two leaders had discussed “several other important matters” that officials from the two sides would be considering in forthcoming meetings.
Trump told reporters on Friday that he had a good call with Zelensky and restated his disappointment at a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin over what he said was Moscow’s lack of willingness to work toward a ceasefire.
Asked whether the United States would agree to supply more Patriot missiles to Ukraine, as requested by Zelensky, Trump said: “They’re going to need them for defense... They’re going to need something because they’re being hit pretty hard.”
Russia has intensified air attacks on Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks. Moscow’s forces launched the largest drone attack of the 40-month-old war on the Ukrainian capital hours after Trump’s conversation with Putin on Thursday.
At least 32 people are dead in Texas floods as the search continues for people still missing
- Vice President JD Vance describes the disaster as ‘an incomprehensible tragedy’
- Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said the bodies of 32 people had been recovered so far: 18 adults and 14 children
KERRVILLE, Texas: Rescuers scoured flooded riverbanks littered with mangled trees Saturday and turned over rocks in the search for more than two dozen children from a girls’ camp and many others missing after a wall of water blasted down a river in the Texas Hill Country. The storm killed at least 32 people, including 14 children.
The destructive fast-moving waters rose 26 feet (8 meters) in just 45 minutes before daybreak Friday, washing away homes and vehicles. The danger was not over as torrential rains continued pounding communities outside San Antonio on Saturday and flash flood warnings and watches remained in effect.
Searchers used helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims and to rescue stranded people in trees and from camps isolated by washed-out roads.
“We will not stop until we find everyone who is missing,” Nim Kidd, chief of Texas Department of Emergency Management, said at a press conference Saturday afternoon.
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said the bodies of 32 people had been recovered so far: 18 adults and 14 children.
Authorities were coming under growing scrutiny Saturday over whether the camps and residents in places long vulnerable to flooding received proper warning and whether enough preparations were made.
The hills along the Guadalupe River in central Texas are dotted with century-old youth camps and campgrounds where generations of families have come to swim and enjoy the outdoors. The area is especially popular around the July Fourth holiday, making it more difficult to know how many are missing.
“We don’t even want to begin to estimate at this time,” said City Manager Dalton Rice said on Saturday morning.
Raging storm hit camp in middle of the night
Some 27 children were among the missing from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river, he said.
“The camp was completely destroyed,” said Elinor Lester, 13, one of hundreds of campers. “A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary.”
A raging storm fueled by incredible amounts of moisture woke up her cabin just after midnight Friday, and when rescuers arrived, they tied a rope for the girls to hold as they walked across a bridge with water whipping around their legs, she said.
Frantic parents and families posted photos of missing loved ones and pleas for information.
On Saturday, the camp was mostly deserted. Helicopters roared above as a few people looked at the damage, including a pickup truck tossed onto its side and a building missing its entire front wall.
Among those confirmed dead were an 8-year-old girl from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who was staying at Camp Mystic, and the director of another camp just up the road.
The flooding in the middle of the night caught many residents, campers and officials by surprise in the Hill Country, which sits northwest of San Antonio.
AccuWeather said the private forecasting company and the National Weather Service sent warnings about potential flash flooding hours before the devastation.
“These warnings should have provided officials with ample time to evacuate camps such as Camp Mystic and get people to safety,” AccuWeather said in a statement that called the Hill Country one of the most flash-flood-prone areas of the US because of its terrain and many water crossings.
Officials defended their actions while saying they had not expected such an intense downpour that was the equivalent of months’ worth of rain for the area.
One National Weather Service forecast earlier in the week “did not predict the amount of rain that we saw,” said Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
Helicopters, drones used in frantic search for missing
Search crews were facing harsh conditions while “looking in every possible location,” Rice said.
Authorities said about 850 people had been rescued. US Coast Guard helicopters were flying in to assist.
One reunification center at an elementary school was mostly quiet Saturday after taking in hundreds of evacuees the day before.
“We still have people coming here looking for their loved ones. We’ve had a little success, but not much,” said Bobby Templeton, superintendent of Ingram Independent School District.
President Donald Trump said Saturday that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was traveling to Texas and his administration was working with officials on the ground.
“Melania and I are praying for all of the families impacted by this horrible tragedy,” Trump said in a statement on his social media network.
Residents clung to trees, fled to attics
In Ingram, Erin Burgess woke to thunder and rain in the middle of the night Friday. Just 20 minutes later, water was pouring into her home, she said. She described an agonizing hour clinging to a tree with her teenage son.
“My son and I floated to a tree where we hung onto it, and my boyfriend and my dog floated away. He was lost for a while, but we found them,” she said.
Barry Adelman said water pushed everyone in his three-story house into the attic, including his 94-year-old grandmother and 9-year-old grandson.
“I was having to look at my grandson in the face and tell him everything was going to be OK, but inside I was scared to death,” he said.
Local resident know it as ” flash flood alley. ”
“When it rains, water doesn’t soak into the soil,” said Austin Dickson, CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, which was collecting donations. “It rushes down the hill.”
‘No one knew this kind of flood was coming’
The forecast for the weekend had called for rain, with a flood watch upgraded to a warning overnight Friday for at least 30,000 people. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the potential for heavy rain and flooding covered a large area.
“Everything was done to give them a heads up that you could have heavy rain, and we’re not exactly sure where it’s going to land,” Patrick said. “Obviously as it got dark last night, we got into the wee morning of the hours, that’s when the storm started to zero in.”
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s chief elected official, said: “We do not have a warning system.”
When pushed on why more precautions weren’t taken, Kelly said no one knew this kind of flood was coming.
More pockets of heavy rains expected
The slow-moving storm is bringing more rain Saturday, with the potential for pockets of heavy downpours and more flooding, said Jason Runyen, of the National Weather Service.
The threat could linger overnight and into Sunday morning, he said.
UK police arrest over 20 supporters of now banned pro-Palestine group
- On Saturday, supporters gathered in Parliament Square in Westminster, some holding placards that said “I OPPOSE GENOCIDE. I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION.”
- Sky News footage showed some being led away in handcuffs
LONDON: British police arrested over 20 people on suspicion of terrorism offenses after they showed support for the newly banned Palestine Action group in London on Saturday, hours after the proscription came into effect.
The government moved to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws last month after its activists broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged two planes in protest against what the group said was Britain’s support for Israel.
Late on Friday, the campaign lost an urgent appeal against the parliamentary vote to proscribe it as a terrorist organization, with the ban coming into force from midnight.
Under UK laws, offenses include inviting support, expressing approval, or displaying symbols of a banned group and are punishable by up to 14 years in prison and/or a fine. Britain has proscribed 81 groups under anti-terrorism laws, including Hamas, Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
On Saturday, supporters gathered in Parliament Square in Westminster, some holding placards that said “I OPPOSE GENOCIDE. I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION.” Sky News footage showed some being led away in handcuffs from a statue of Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi in the square, as they shouted their support.
United Nations experts have accused Israel of carrying out “genocidal acts” against Palestinians in the conflict in Gaza, which began after Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel has repeatedly dismissed such accusations.
PRIDE PARADE PROTEST
Palestine Action has targeted Israel-linked companies in Britain in its protests, with interior minister Yvette Cooper saying that violence and criminal damage have no place in legitimate protest and that the group’s activities justify proscription.
Critics of the decision, including some United Nations experts and civil liberties groups, have argued that damaging property does not amount to terrorism.
At another protest on Saturday, five pro-Palestinian activists from the Youth Demand group were arrested after they threw red paint over US company Cisco’s truck, which was participating in London’s Pride parade, and glued themselves to the vehicle.
The parade, which celebrates lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities, has since resumed, a separate police statement said.
“Young people will not accept ... crimes against humanity,” Youth Demand’s statement — which did not mention Palestine Action — said. It added that its activists targeted Cisco’s float as the company supplies “technology that is helping Israel.”
Cisco did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside of business hours.
