A Spanish policeman patrols in the Las Ramblas area of Barcelona, Spain, Aug. 19, 2017. The Spanish government decided to maintain its anti-terrorism alert level at 4 but pledged to reinforce security measures at the same time, the Interior Ministry said Saturday in a statement. 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. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan)
BARCELONA, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Police are suspecting an imam from the town of Ripoli, north of Barcelona, of the "brains" behind Thursday's terror attacks and has started an investigation of him, local media reported Sunday.
It is thought that the 45-year-old Abdelbaki es Satti, who is described by the El Mundo newspaper as "solitary, reserved and almost hermit like," is responsible for radicalizing the members of the terrorist cell, which carried out the attacks, leaving 14 people dead and more than 120 injured in Barcelona and Cambrils.
He was found left when Catalan regional police searched his flat in the wake of Thursday's attacks. It is unknown whether Satti is still at large or killed in an explosion late Wednesday, which destroyed a house in the town of Alcaner, south of Barcelona.
Investigators have discovered 20 butane gas bottles in the building and the current hypothesis is that terrorists were using the property while preparing an bigger attack in the region, possibly with Barcelona's emblematic Sagrada Familia church as one of the main targets.
However, the accidental explosion made them exposed before being able to carry out their original plan and forced them into a last-minute change of plan, which involved the attacks in Las Ramblas and Cambrils.
Satti spent almost two years in jail for drug trafficking and was released in January 2012. During his imprisonment, he was reported to develop a "special friendship" with Rachid Aglif, who was serving an 18-year sentence for his part in the Atocha train bombing in March 2004, which left more than 190 people dead in the south of Madrid.
Satti moved to Ripoli two years ago and reportedly spent his time between his home, a shared flat of just 30 square meters and a mosque.
A total of 14 fatalities occurred in the 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 14th 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.
Both attacks were carried out by a single terrorist cell made up of about 12 people, according to Spanish police.
