The Catalan Mossos force said a man was killed at a police station. The incident took place just after Barcelona had marked the first anniversary of the terrorist attack in Las Ramblas boulevard.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Morenatti
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A man wielding a knife tried to enter a police station in Barcelona and was shot down by an officer on Monday morning. Catalan regional police said the assailant had shouted "allahu akbar" as he attempted to enter the station. Investigators are treating the incident as a "terrorist attack."
The attack occurred in Cornella de Llobregat, a neighborhood in the western part of Barcelona. The regional Mossos, Catalonia's police force, said on Twitter that the man had arrived at 6 a.m. local time (0400 UTC/GMT) "with the aim of attacking the officers."
Catalan police chief Rafel Comas told a news conference that the assailant arrived at the station and said he wanted to make "a general inquiry." Once he was let in, the attacker leaped towards a police officer, brandishing a large knife. In order to repel the assailant's violent advance, the officer shot him. The suspect died at the scene.
"However you look at it, it was a knife attack against an officer (by a man who) shouted "Allah is great" and other things that were impossible to make out," Comas said.
"For now, we are treating it as a terrorist attack," he added.
According to local media, the attacker was a 29-year-old man of Algerian descent, who had legal residency in Spain and lived in the neighborhood of Cornella de Llobregat. The Mossos confirmed that he did not have any previous criminal record and as part of the investigation, his residency had been searched.
The incident comes on the heels of the first anniversary of a terrorist attack in Barcelona where 16 people died and 100 others were injured. The assault was carried out by young Islamic extremists, who drove a van down the city's busy central boulevard of Las Ramblas. It was Spain's worst terrorist attack since the Madrid train station bombing of 2004.
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Barcelona recalls the horrors on first anniversary of terror attacks
Thousands in Barcelona have paid their respects to those killed on the first anniversary of the twin terrorist attacks in Catalonia. Spanish King Felipe IV presided over the ceremony on the Placa de Catalunya.
Image: Reuters/S. Vera
A city shaken
Last year's terrorist attacks, which killed 15 people and injured some 130, shook the Catalonian region to its core. Those who were wounded or witnessed the attack continue to harbor the traumas to this day. "The van passed by me and from there I saw everything ... people flew into the air like broken dolls, I was paralyzed, there were many people bleeding," said witness Ana Cortes.
Image: Reuters/S. Vera
Thousands gather to pay their respects
A year on from the attacks, thousands gathered to see the families of the victims lay down wreaths on the scene of the attack. The emotional ceremony saw the crowd recite John Lennon's Imagine and read poetry in different languages.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Lago
Spain's King presides over ceremony, despite simmering tensions
Spanish King Felipe IV attended the commemorative ceremony with his wife Queen Letizia. While the country's new Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has sought to diffuse tensions between Madrid and Barcelona following last year's independence drive, the King made an unusual political intervention during his speech Friday to decry the Catalan separatist movement.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Lago
Barcelona's unavoidable political backdrop
Despite calls from victims' families not to politicize Friday's commemoration, the deep rift between Barcelona and Madrid was always bound to rear its head. Several separatists boycotted the ceremony on the Placa de Catalunya due to the King's appearance, staging their own commemorative marches instead.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/M. Fernandez
Rampage on Las Ramblas
On August 17, 2017, Moroccan national Younes Abouyaaqoub, aged 22, ploughed a van into hundreds of pedestrians on Barcelona's famed Las Ramblas boulevard, before fleeing the van just of the Placa de Catalunya. During his escape, Abouyaaqoub stabbed to death a 34-year-old man as he was parking and stole the car.
Image: Getty Images/D. Ramos
Spanish police shoot dead 'IS' terror cell
Just hours later, five of Abouyaaqoub's accomplices stabbed a woman to death and injured six others in the coastal town of Cambrils, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of Barcelona. All five attackers were shot dead by police in the ensuing manhunt. The so-called "Islamic State" (IS) terror group claimed responsibility for both attacks.
Image: Reuters/Reuters TV
Young Barcelona attacker shot dead
Four days after the attacks, Abouyaaqoub was shot dead by police in the town of Subirats, around 40 km (25 miles) from Barcelona. A police officer said that the killed suspect was wearing an explosive belt during the shootout.
Spanish authorities arrested a further four men in connection with the attacks —including the owner of the car used in the Cambrils attack and the brother of one of the killed terror suspects. Two of the detained remain in custody and face terrorism and murder charges, while the others have been released but are barred from leaving the country.
Image: Reuters/J. Medina
Spain readjusts
No stranger to the threat of terrorism, Spain tried to quickly readjust following the attacks, boosting security and restricting vehicle access to busy streets. Barcelona's tourism sector took a major hit in the aftermath of the attacks, which were followed by a controversial independence referendum. However, the city is set to retain its place as one of the most visited European cities in 2018.
