Barcelona terror attack: Manhunt underway as terror suspect flees to France

A manhunt is underway across Europe to find the main suspect, the driver of the white Renault Kangoo van that was involved in the terror attack on Las Ramblas in the heart of Barcelona, amid fears that he may have crossed into France.

Investigators have said that the Barcelona and Cambrils terror attacks are closely linked as that was hatched in a house that the plotters had used as a bomb factory, Telegraph reported.

An explosion at a house in Alcanar, which is about 125 miles southwest of Barcelona took place before the Las Ramblas attack. Police currently believe the Barcelona and Cambrils incidents were planned in Alcanar - linking all three events.

Catalan police chief Josep Lluis Trapero said that explosives were found in the Alcanar property and that police "are working on the hypothesis that these attacks were being prepared in that house."

Around 13 people were killed and 100 injured in three terror-related incidents in Catalonia, Spain, including attack in Barcelona.Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22-year old Moroccan national, is believed to be the driver of the white van involved in the attack on Thursday afternoon, but was not among those shot dead by security forces later that night,according to Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Security officials believe the attacks on Barcelona and Cambrils were the work of a terror cell of at least 12 people, who may have been inspired by the London Bridge outrage in June.

The driver is feared to be still at large after plotting the Barcelona terrorist attacks and police and security services were hunting for the remaining members of a Moroccan-born terror cell, amid fears that they could be preparing further attacks at popular tourist areas, Telegraph reported.

Police in Catalonia said they were searching for Abouyaaqoub,living in the Spanish town of Ripoll.

Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, King Felipe VI and Carles Puigdemont, the president of Catalonia - where both attacks took place - held a minute of silence in Barcelona. 

-ANI