False alarm near Barcelona attack site

AP , Monday 21 Aug 2017

Spain attacks
Symbols of condolence are placed for the victims of the terror attacks that killed 14 people and wounded over 120 in Barcelona , Spain, in front of the Spanish embassy in Berlin, Germany. (photo:AP)

Police have cordoned off the main memorial site of the Barcelona attacks in Las Ramblas after reports of a suspicious package on a bus.

Authorities later said it was a false alarm, saying someone had left behind a backpack with personal belongings. Police said the cordon would soon be lifted. But the security incident was a sign that authorities were still on high alert in the city as a manhunt for one of the attackers continues.

Police had formed a line Monday morning preventing the crowds of mourners and visitors from getting near the site where people have placed hundreds of flowers and candles in memory of the victims of the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils. A total of 15 people were killed and more than 120 others injured.1:30 p.m.

An official in Spain says that authorities have identified all 15 victims killed in the attacks last week in the Catalonia region.

Catalan justice minister Carles Mundo says that the fatalities are eight males, including two minors, and seven women.

Mundo spoke during a news conference in which officials also increased the death toll in the attacks to 15 — the latest victim being a man, Pau Perez, found stabbed in a car that was believed to be used by one of the attackers to flee the scene.

The previous death toll was 14 — 13 people killed in a van attack on Barcelona's Las Ramblas promenade on Thursday, and one woman killed hours later in Cambrils.

 

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