Spain maintains alert level at 4 with reinforced security measures

Source: Xinhua| 2017-08-19 20:51:49|Editor: Song Lifang
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BARCELONA, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish government decided to maintain its anti-terrorism alert level at 4 but said to reinforce security measures at the same time, the Interior Ministry said Saturday in a statement.

The decision was made during an anti-terror meeting chaired by Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido in the morning.

A total of 14 fatalities occurred in two terrorist attacks in the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Cambrils that also hurt about 126 people of 34 different nationalities.

Thirteen people were killed on Thursday afternoon in the popular Las Ramblas area of Barcelona when a white van zigzagged at high speed down the busy avenue thronged with tourists, knocking down pedestrians.

On early Friday morning, the fourteenth victim, a woman, was stabbed when five people jumped out of a car and began attacking people at random on the seaside promenade in Cambrils, a town south of Barcelona. Spanish police gunned down all five attackers. The woman died at hospital later on Friday. Six others were also injured in the attack.

As of Saturday morning, 54 injured people are still hospitalized with 12 of them in critical condition, according to Catalan emergency services.

HIGH RISK

Spain's Anti-terrorist Alert Level consists of a scale composed of several complementary levels, each of which is associated with a degree of risk, depending on the assessment of the terrorist threat that can be seen in each moment.

The classification has five levels of activation, associated with a certain level of risk -- level 1 corresponds to low risk, level 2 to moderate risk, level 3 to medium risk, level 4 at high risk and level 5 at very high risk.

In a statement released after the meeting, Zoido said that the level 4 will be reinforced with intensified security measures in places or events with massive people, and "special attention" will go to tourism areas.

Zoido also said that Spanish police have dismantled the terrorist cell behind the double terror attacks.

The minister then moved to the Moncloa presidential palace to inform Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy the decision.

"At the moment it is crucial for the safety of our citizens that the experts make a correct assessment of the short- and medium-term consequences of the attacks and that the different perspectives and analyzes on the Entity of the threat we face," said Zoido in the statement.

Besides the reinforcement of safety devices, additional measures also include an intensification of prevention in potential targets of terrorist attacks, reinforcement of the response devices to attacks and strengthened collaboration within relevant security bodies.

In the statement, Zoido also reiterated the need, already transmitted by the government of Spain to the European Union, to create a European Charter for victims of terrorism.

VAN DRIVER STILL AT LARGE

Meanwhile, Spanish authorities identified one fugitive terrorist as Younes Abouyaaqoub.

Police are searching for the 23-year-old Moroccan in Ripoll near Barcelona. The suspect has been wanted by Interpol prior to the double attacks.

Confusion still reigns over the identity of the van attack driver. The police firstly thought the driver was Moussa Oukabir, one of the terrorists gunned down in Cambrils, and later they turned their attention to Younes Abouyaaqoub.

Police authorities in Catalania said that they are ruling out the possibility that the van's driver would join the group that carried out the attack in Cambrils.

So far, four people have been arrested and are being questioned by police.

Two dead people were found among the rubbles after a blast occurred on Wednesday in a house in Alcanar (south of Barcelona), and police thought one of them could be the imam of Ripoll, whose house has been searched.

Police found more than 100 butane gas canisters in the house.

The police believe the terrorist cell consisted of 12 men -- 5 of them shot down in Cambrils, 2 dead in Alcanar blast, four arrested and one on the run.

As to the nationality of the victims, police authorities said five Spaniards, three Italians and two Portuguese are among those killed.

Victims were identified by a team comprised of members of the Catalan Institute of Legal Medicine and the Scientific police, said the Interior Ministry of the Catalan region.

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