2017 Barcelona attacks

2017 Barcelona attacks
La Rambla, the site of the van attack; pictured in 2011
La Rambla, Barcelona attack Cambrils attack Alcanar explosion Subirats
Location	La Rambla: 41°22′53″N 2°10′23″E Cambrils: 41°22′53″N 2°10′23″E Alcanar: 40.580919°N 0.553046°E / 40.580919; 0.553046 Subirats: 41.384722°N 1.798056°E / 41.384722; 1.798056 La Rambla, Barcelona and Cambrils, Catalonia, Spain
Date	17–18 August 2017 16:54–01:15 CEST (UTC+2)
Target	Pedestrians
Attack type	Vehicle-ramming attack, stabbing, mass murder
Weapons	Alcanar: Acetone peroxide, gas cylinders (accidental explosion) Barcelona: Fiat Talento and a knife Cambrils: Audi A3, knives and axe
Deaths	24 (including 8 attackers)
Injured	152
No. of participants	8
Motive	Islamic extremism

On the afternoon of 17 August 2017, 22-year-old Younes Abouyaaqoub drove a van into a crowd of pedestrians on La Rambla street in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, killing 13 people and injuring at least 130 others, one of whom died as a result of the injuries ten days later, on 27 August. Abouyaaqoub fled the attack on foot, then killed another person in order to steal the victim's car and escape. He was later killed by police in Subirats, a town 31 kilometres (19 mi) west of Barcelona, on 21 August.

Nine hours after the Barcelona attack, five more men, thought to be members of the same terrorist cell, drove into another group of pedestrians in nearby Cambrils, killing one woman and injuring six. All five of these attackers were shot and killed by police.

The night before the Barcelona attack, an explosion occurred in a house in the Catalan town of Alcanar, destroying the building and killing two members of the terrorist cell, including the 40-year-old imam, thought to be the mastermind behind the coordinated attacks. The home was found to have contained more than 120 gas canisters, which police believe the cell was attempting to convert into either one large bomb or three smaller bombs, to be transported by rental van and detonated in additional attacks, but that the explosives were accidentally detonated.

The Prime Minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, called the attack in Barcelona a jihadist attack. Amaq News Agency attributed indirect responsibility for the attack to the Islamic State. The attacks were the deadliest in Spain since the 2004 Madrid train bombings and the deadliest in Barcelona since the 1987 Hipercor bombing.

A 2022 statement by former Spanish police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo in the Spanish High Court appeared to suggest that the Spanish National Intelligence Service was aware of, and potentially involved in, the attacks. However, others have since dismissed his claim as a conspiracy theory.