Police Name Suspect in Barcelona Van Attack: Reports

Police Name Suspect in Barcelona Van Attack: Reports
Driss Oukabir (Spanish police)
Jack Phillips
8/17/2017
Updated:
8/17/2017

At least one suspect in the killing at least 12 people in Barcelona has been identified, according to police.

Driss Oukabir, who is a Moroccan citizen, was arrested by Spanish police as a suspect, El Pais reported on Thursday.

Oukabir, born in 1989, lived in Ripoll and was the person who rented the van used in the attack.

In the attack, a van plowed into a crowd of people in a tourist area in the city on Thursday, killing 12 people and injuring about 50 more. The van jumped ran onto the sidewalk and struck the crowd. Some reports say that 13 are dead.

Police said they’re treating Oukabir “as a terrorist.”

They reportedly found a Spanish passport inside the van, El Pais reported. But Oukabir had a foreigner identification number, according to El Pais.

As the Telegraph reported, he was known to police and spent prison time in Figueres before he was released in 2012.

His involvement in the attack is unclear, police added.

Media reports said that he recently ranted about Israel on Facebook. “Alas! what has happened to our Arabism. Even the children haven’t been rescued from the Israeli occupation. Post this video to be watched by the whole people in the world,” reads the caption, translated from Arabic.

ISIS social media accounts celebrated the Barcelona attack, Fox News reported.

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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