Terrorist attack in Spain. Two terrorist attacks occurred in Spain within 24 hours. ISIS follower was detained in the city of San Sebastian

Last minute news - a car hit three police officers in Barcelona. It is not yet clear whether this has anything to do with the terrorist attack committed earlier in one of the most popular cities in Europe, including among our compatriots.

According to the latest reports, the driver of a van who crashed into people in the tourist center, on the pedestrian street La Rambla, has been detained. Very different data on the dead - from one to 13. There are over 30 injured. They say that there may be almost 60. Hospitals are urgently looking for blood donors. Police say a second terrorist van has also been found. Central metro stations are closed.

The first minutes after the tragedy. A few police officers disperse the cars. Passers-by, mostly tourists, waiting for ambulances, provide first aid to the wounded. Reports on the number of injured and killed are still contradictory. More than 10 people were killed; the source of the Spanish radio Cadena Sir reports 13 killed. There are at least three dozen injured, some of them seriously wounded, so the death toll may rise.

Less than an hour after the attack, Spanish security forces will call the incident a terrorist attack. The script, as if from a carbon copy, repeats the notorious events in Nice and London. The minibus picked up speed, according to eyewitnesses, about 80 kilometers per hour, and jumped out of the roadway onto a pedestrian area. I tried to hit as many pedestrians as possible, crushing people as I walked until I crashed into a kiosk.

The place and moment chosen for the attack meant the maximum number of victims - the main tourist street of Barcelona, ​​La Rambla, the peak of the tourist season. Among those who found themselves literally a few meters from the terrorists’ van were Russians.

“We were in the center of Barcelona, ​​everyone started running. We went outside, there were police and an ambulance. Nobody understood what was happening. It was 10-15 meters from us. We left, we were still letting people in, but now they are no longer letting us in,” said Tatyana Kurbatova.

A chain wave of panic quickly spread to the narrow streets of the central historical quarters of the Catalan capital.

“I work nearby here. I was walking home from the store - I saw people running away, the police were driving their cars onto the Rambla, where people should go. Restaurants, I see, the blinds are already lowered, scared people are already sitting inside,” said Vladimir Fazleev.

Following a car attack in the center of Barcelona, ​​pops sound like gunshots. News agencies report a shootout at the famous Boqueria market, which is located a step away from where the van stopped. According to some media reports, the terrorists settled into a Turkish restaurant and took hostages. It was as if shooting could be heard from there too. The police are preparing for the assault.

And judging by the footage taken from the windows by residents of the center of Barcelona, ​​the police are combing the streets, not fully understanding the number and location of the terrorists.

It is certainly known that one attacker managed to escape, the police were looking for a man 170 centimeters tall in a white shirt with blue stripes, and he has now been detained. According to El Pais, his name is Driss Oukabir. An alleged photo of him has already been published on the Internet.

The security forces were looking for the pickup truck in which the criminal or criminals escaped. According to newspaper reports, the car was found 70 kilometers from Barcelona. It is already known that the van was rented in the suburbs of Barcelona, ​​and the alleged terrorist himself is a resident of the city of Ripoll near the French border.

Meanwhile, helicopters are patrolling over the city. The center of Barcelona is cordoned off, the metro and train stations are closed.

By the way, the Central Railway Station is a 10-minute walk from the site of the terrorist attack. There, on the Central Square, always crowded with tourists, a huge shopping center is being evacuated.

“Many are panicking, many want to leave the center of events, but for now it is impossible to leave from there unless you run away on foot. Everyone exchanges information from different sources,” said Veronica Lear.

A special operation is ongoing in the center of Barcelona, ​​footage has already appeared of the arrest of, perhaps, just one of the terrorists, Spanish police are putting a man in handcuffs into a minibus. At the same time, Barcelona police are calling on citizens through social networks to donate blood - existing hospital supplies may not be enough.

And the Spanish newspaper Periodico has already rushed to report that, according to its data, the American Central Intelligence Agency warned the Catalan police about a possible terrorist attack, specifically on the Rambla, two months ago.

Well, Europe is not learning anything. Nothing. They still believe that it makes any difference for ISIS (a terrorist organization banned almost everywhere) whether it operates in England, France or somewhere else. But there is no difference. As soon as security is strengthened a little in one of the countries, they attack another state of the European Union, which naively believes itself to be safe and sound. And this time the blow fell on Spain.

So. Chronology terrorist attacks in Spain next.

August 17. Day. Barcelona. On a crowded tourist street Rambla A van drives into the crowd of vacationers. It also drives in zigzags, and at full speed. I drove almost 2 blocks. There were 3 people in the car who attempted to escape from the scene of the incident using different routes. As for the casualties, 13 people died and more than 100 were injured. Among the victims were citizens of various countries, including Russia (the tourist escaped with a slight injury and is no longer in danger). The number of deaths may increase as about 15 people are in critical condition.

August 17. Evening. Alcanar. 160 km from Barcelona. The explosive device claims at least 1 life and injures about 10 people. Among them was a police representative. Moreover, this is the second explosion in 2 days.

August 17. Night. Cambris is a small port town 120 km from Barcelona. A van drives into a group of people, from which terrorists with knives get out and go to kill everyone they see. 7 people were injured, including 1 policeman. But the terrorists were eliminated quite quickly. Fire to kill - 5 corpses. Everything is like spring in England. As a subsequent examination showed, the corpses were wearing suicide belts. Only fake ones.

According to the latest information, all three people responsible for the crime have already been detained. terrorist attack in Barcelona. One of them is a native of Morocco, the other is a citizen of Spain. All Muslims, of course.

For all terrorist attacks in Spain ISIS claimed responsibility. And we already know for sure that at least 2 of the criminals were Muslims. Most likely, the situation is similar with everyone else. Peaceful followers of the “religion of goodness and peace” at some point suddenly begin to crush people with rented vans and cut them with knives. That is, there are no difficulties with weapons and explosives - we just take the simplest option and repeat it many times. And it doesn’t matter whether the performers survive.

But unlike France, Spain is not going to give up. On the contrary, it was publicly stated that only “Popular unity, anti-terrorism operations and global unity can stop terrorism.” The words are beautiful, but how will this turn out in reality?

I also wonder where global terrorism will strike next? And there is no doubt that it will hit.

The terrorist attack on Las Ramblas in the center of Barcelona was not a lone act, but part of a plan for a large-scale attack on the most popular Spanish city among tourists. The investigation is inclined towards this version, which considers the terrorist attack in Barcelona and incidents in two other Catalan cities - Cambrils and Alcanar - to be links in one chain. Security measures in Spain have now been significantly strengthened, but experts and right-wing politicians note that in order to prevent such attacks, it is necessary to radically change the EU migration policy - “close the borders, and immediately expel all potentially dangerous Islamists.” However, the leaders of key European countries are still not ready for such radical measures.

"I'm not afraid"

The center of the memorial events on Friday was Barcelona's Plaza Catalunya. At noon, about 30 thousand Spaniards and foreigners expressing solidarity with them gathered there (representatives of 34 states were killed or injured in the terrorist attacks). Another 70 thousand people were on the streets adjacent to the square. Among others, there were representatives of the Muslim community of Catalonia - they were holding posters “Love for everyone. Hate - no one." Many chanted - and in Catalan - the phrase "I'm not afraid."

The ceremony was attended by the King of Spain, Philip VI, the leaders of the country's parties, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and the head of the regional government, Carles Puigdemont. The latter two are rarely seen together: Mr. Puigdemont is the main supporter of the separation of Catalonia from the rest of Spain, which causes extreme indignation and rejection in Madrid.

On Friday, the regional leader made it clear: despite numerous words of support from the central government and statements about the unity of the nation (Mariano Rajoy on Friday, for example, used the hashtag “We are all Catalonia” on his Twitter page), what happened will not affect plans to gain independence. Carles Puigdemont called attempts to mix this issue with the topic of terrorist attacks “pathetic.” A referendum on secession is expected to take place in Catalonia on October 1. However, he will not be recognized by the Spanish authorities.

In other countries, however, no attention was paid to the differences between Madrid and Barcelona - which faded into the background, but by no means disappeared - on Friday they did not pay any attention. All day they brought flowers and candles to the Spanish embassies in different cities.

Moscow was no exception. The flags of Spain and the European Union were flown at half-mast over the embassy building in the center of the Russian capital on Friday. Many of those who came to express solidarity signed the book of condolences. People wrote: “Terror has no justification,” “Terrorists cannot intimidate us,” and “Russia mourns with Spain.” Spanish Ambassador to Moscow Ignacio Ibáñez, after a minute of silence in front of the diplomatic mission, said that “terrorism is a global threat and must be fought with global means.” “We hope that we will continue the successful experience of fighting terrorism and other countries, including Russia, will help us in this,” he said. And he thanked everyone who expressed solidarity with Spain, “including the Russian people.”

Long preparation

Meanwhile, Spanish law enforcement agencies said on Friday that the country was attacked not by a single person, but by an entire terrorist cell. According to various sources, we are talking about 8-12 Islamists who were planning a whole series of high-profile attacks.

The first of these was a collision with pedestrians on the Catalan boulevard Las Ramblas (see Kommersant on August 18), which killed 13 people and injured about 130. Spanish media on Friday named 17-year-old Musa Oukabir, who has Moroccan roots, as the main suspect in the terrorist attack. Two years ago, he wrote on social networks about his desire to “kill infidels,” and when asked where he would never want to live, he answered: “In the Vatican.” After committing the terrorist attack, he managed to escape.

Moreover, on Friday night, after the situation in the center of Barcelona had more or less stabilized, alarming news began to arrive from the city of Cambrils, 120 km from the Catalan capital. There, a van also drove into a crowd of pedestrians, injuring six people (one of whom died in hospital on Friday). The police managed to eliminate five people who were in the van (according to media reports, Musa Ukabir was among them). Some of them were wearing fake suicide belts.

In addition, the police reported that they connect the recent explosions in the town of Alcanar (Catalan province of Tarragona) with the events in Barcelona and Cambrils. On Wednesday evening and the next day, two explosions occurred there, killing one person and injuring more than ten. Initially there was talk of a gas explosion. However, now the investigation is considering the version according to which bombs made by terrorists exploded. According to the head of the Catalan police, Josep Luis Trapero, the terrorists could have been preparing an attack on Spaniards and guests of the country “for a long time” in Alcanar.

According to Spanish media, four people have been detained in connection with the investigation into the terrorist attacks. Four more (including Musa Ukabir) are wanted. The oldest of the suspects is 24 years old.

"Naive culture of openness"

In addition to searching for the organizers of the attacks, Spanish authorities on Friday took measures to prevent new possible terrorist attacks. In Madrid, at a meeting of representatives of security agencies, it was decided to leave in place the fourth level of the terrorist threat out of five possible. At the same time, it was decided to increase patrolling in crowded areas. And, for example, in Madrid, car barriers were installed in front of the main pedestrian areas. Something similar was implemented in the Spanish capital after the terrorist attack at the Christmas market in Berlin on December 19, 2016. But then the fences were removed.

Commenting on the events in Catalonia, the mayor of the French city of Nice, Christian Estrosi, on Friday spoke about his initiative to convene a meeting of mayors of large and medium-sized European cities in September to exchange experiences and lobby for the idea of ​​​​creating a pan-European fund, money from which will be used to equip public spaces with means of protection against terrorists. Let us recall that it was from Nice that a series of attacks using vans and trucks began: on July 14, 2016, a native of Tunisia, Mohamed Lauege-Boulel, drove into a crowd of passersby, resulting in the death of 86 people and another 308 injuries.

However, any preventive measures do not provide complete protection against terrorist attacks. “Attacks of this kind are very difficult to prevent and their organizers to identify. After all, the task is not to protect government buildings or, for example, a television tower. Here we need to place a police officer or a special services agent around the entire perimeter of the most crowded places in all big cities of Europe,” Shlomo Ben-Ami, co-founder and vice-president of the International Peace Center in Toledo (Spain), an expert at the Valdai Club, told Kommersant. Speaking about the reasons for what happened, he noted: “The Spaniards were too generous in their approach to migration policy, in particular to young people who come from North Africa. Perhaps Spain is the only country in Western Europe in whose political spectrum one cannot find a right-wing party with radical xenophobic views.”

Among current politicians, representatives of Hungary and Poland spoke about the ineffectiveness of European migration policy on Friday. “It is obvious to everyone that there is a relationship between illegal migration and terrorism,” Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó told the Hungarian MTI news agency. According to him, “Europe must protect itself, guarantee the security of Europeans, and for this it is necessary to strengthen the borders of the Schengen zone.”

The candidate for Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany, Alice Weidel, spoke out most harshly, noting: “The naive culture of openness (towards refugees - Kommersant) threatens our security, kills people and jeopardizes our peaceful existence . We must finally close the borders and expel all potentially dangerous Islamists immediately, otherwise what happened in Barcelona will happen again.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her main competitor in the September parliamentary elections, the leader of the Social Democratic Party Martin Schulz, reacted to the events in Catalonia on Friday - but not in the way that supporters of the right forces wanted. They expressed solidarity with the Spanish people and agreed on the need to “send a signal of unity.” It manifested itself in the agreement between two politicians to refuse music at the upcoming election events.

Pavel Tarasenko, Elena Chernenko

“Today, the fight against terrorism is a priority for free and open societies like ours. This is a global threat and the response must also be global,” said Prime Minister Rajoy. These words already indicated that Spain would radically change its approaches to its security.

On Thursday at around 17.00 local time (18.00 Moscow time), a white van drove into a crowd of people on La Rambla in the center of Barcelona. According to the latest data, 13 people were killed and more than 190 were injured. Another terrorist attack following the same pattern was foiled a few hours later in the city of Cambrils in the south of the country. There the police managed to kill five militants and wound a sixth.

The Prime Minister of Spain has already promised to appeal to the country's political parties to change the state "anti-terrorism pact", which, according to him, is not working today.

We are talking about a document signed in 2015 between the ruling People's Party and the socialists, the main opposition force in the country. It said that both political forces would advocate life sentences for those involved in supporting terrorism.

However, after the signing of the pact, the socialists announced that they were dissatisfied with it and would challenge it in court. Their fears were related to difficult relations in Spain itself. There are separatist groups here who advocate leaving the country, such as the Catalan Basques. Socialists feared that the law would be used to put pressure on official Madrid on groups of moderate Basques who advocate autonomy but are against terror.

“Spain represents a special case in the pan-European fight against terrorism,” says , director of programs at the European Center for Strategic and Security Studies. “This country refused on principle to participate in anti-terrorism campaigns in Iraq and subsequently in Syria. Today, Spain’s participation in the Western coalition fighting against the terrorist “Islamic State” (IS, banned in Russia) is also very limited. The Spanish military basically just provides advice and training to its colleagues.”

According to Gazeta.Ru’s interlocutor, Madrid has so far supported its neutrality with the argument that IS primarily attacks countries that are actively involved in the Syrian and Iraqi campaigns (Germany, France, Belgium, etc.).

“After the terrorist attack in Barcelona, ​​this argument no longer works. Spain’s “non-intervention” strategy, which provided the country with almost 13 years without terrorist attacks, has today shown its inconsistency,” says Gvozdeva.

13 years of silence

The Spanish authorities chose a relatively soft approach to terrorism in 2004. Then in Spain there was a series of explosions at the Madrid station and on passenger trains. 191 people died during the attack. Almost 2 thousand were injured.

This happened just three years after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York, which forced the US president to declare a “war on terror” and launch large-scale military campaigns in the Middle East.

Despite the fact that the intelligence services spoke about a “jihadist” trace in the case of the Madrid bombings, the government of Prime Minister Aznar decided to present this problem as an internal one. The ruling People's Party blamed the crime on radicals from the Basque group ETA. During the 30 years of the Basque struggle against the country's government, more than 800 people died.

The explosions at the Madrid train station actually occurred on the eve of the parliamentary elections in the country. Aznar did not heed calls to move them and lost. As a result, the opposition won the elections.

The new Spanish authorities said that the terrorist attacks in Madrid did not occur because of the Basques, but precisely because Aznar too actively supported the American “war on terror,” and Spain paid for this position. There were 300 Spanish troops in Iraq at the time.

The Socialist government introduced a number of reforms aimed at combating terrorism. Many people suspected of having links with terrorists were expelled from the country, citizens who fought in Iraq and Syria on the side of radical Islamists were arrested, and financial measures were taken, since Spain has long been a financial hub for various kinds of terrorist organizations.

Spain has completed the integration of an automated system for reading EU passports with biometric data, as well as introducing explosive detection equipment at five of Spain's largest airports.

All this, coupled with neutrality in the global “war on terror,” has produced impressive results. Over the past 13 years, not a single terrorist attack has occurred in Spain. Even the People’s Party, which regained power in the country in 2011, did not dare to challenge the success of this flexible system.

The terrorist attack in Barcelona, ​​however, forces Prime Minister Rajoy to change his anti-terrorism strategy. This is also consistent with the conservative approach to security promoted by the Spanish People's Party.

“We were once again convinced that even very specific warnings from foreign intelligence services (in this case they were American) about impending terrorist attacks could not allow Spanish intelligence to prevent them,” says Evgenia Gvozdeva. “We have already observed a similar situation in the context of the Paris and Brussels terrorist attacks, as well as the explosion in Manchester. Why? The level of terrorist threat today is unprecedentedly high, and any, even extraordinary and emergency security measures do not provide a 100 percent guarantee.”

As a Gazeta.Ru correspondent reports from Spain, on the evening of the day of the terrorist attack, the roads leading from Barcelona were blocked. As we left the city, police with machine guns looked into faces and inspected cars. They worked selectively.

A closed minivan was driving in front of the bus, where the Gazeta.Ru journalist was. Law enforcement officers inspected only the driver's cabin. Although at that time the main perpetrator of the terrorist attack on the Rambla had not yet been caught. On Spanish television they gave a vague tip: a man of average height in a striped T-shirt.

watch out for the car

Today, when the People's Party led by Rajoy is in power in the country, it is they who will have to take additional measures after the terrorist attack in Barcelona. The need to tighten controls in the fight against terrorism at the same time should not harm tourism. This industry today accounts for 15% of Spain's GDP.

Spain is a popular holiday destination among Russian tourists. According to the National Institute of Statistics of Spain, the country was visited by more than 1 million tourists from Russia in 2016. This is 2% more than a year earlier.

Ekaterina, a Russian tourist who has visited Spain many times, told Gazeta.Ru that she did not notice any visible anti-terrorism measures. “These are not the measures that we are used to seeing in Moscow - there are limits and checks everywhere. There is no such. In Spain it is generally not customary to emphasize military topics; it is a peaceful country. I think there will be an increase, but not much.”

Russian production director Yegor Curdello, who lived in Spain for several years, also expects that measures in Barcelona will be strengthened, but admits that so far things are often “rather careless.” At the same time, he notes that the Spanish police officers with whom he had to communicate during the preparation of one of the projects look like they are from “some kind of action movie”: “they have serious training.”

The Russian authorities have already offered their assistance to the Spanish authorities in the fight against terrorism. However, this proposal so far looks more like an act of solidarity. Despite the presence of specialists in this field in Russia and Spain itself, experts believe that in order to prevent a terrorist attack using a car, more attention must be paid to the so-called “passive safety”.

“Erection of concrete blocks near sidewalks may not be very aesthetically pleasing. However, this can help faster than just carrying out operational measures. This is a measure of strict passive safety,” says retired Colonel Sergei Militsky, a former high-ranking officer of Directorate “A” of the Special Purpose Center of the FSB of Russia, to Gazeta.Ru.

Militsky also draws attention to the fact that to carry out their actions, terrorists often choose “iconic” streets of European cities, known throughout the world. It is these streets that security services need to pay increased attention to, the expert believes.

“Each new terrorist attack provokes a lively discussion about “barrier methods” of security and new calls to install concrete barriers everywhere and everywhere, and install metal detectors in other places. Such methods are considered by many politicians to be the only correct solution. But this is not so, says Evgenia Gvozdeva from ESISC.

— Any frames and concrete barriers can effectively protect specific infrastructure, objects, but not people. The barriers will only shift the location of a future terrorist attack, and instead of a tourist street, terrorists will choose a bus stop, a market, or a subway entrance.”

One of the former Russian special forces officers, who was involved in the fight against terrorism in the North Caucasus, believes that Spain should take a closer look at domestic practices. “Europeans need to strengthen control over citizens who traveled to Islamic countries, as well as people who were in contact with them,” says Gazeta.Ru’s interlocutor, who wished to remain anonymous. “For many Islamists, a terrorist attack is an opportunity to earn money for their family. If you punish not only the participant, but also the entire family, then the main point of committing a terrorist attack is lost.”

Over the past year, the car has been used for terrorist purposes in a number of European cities. The most notorious case was in Nice, when a heavy truck, driven by a Tunisian, caused the death of 80 people.

On August 17, a van drove into a crowd of people in the center of Barcelona. The result was 13 dead and more than 100 injured. The terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS, banned in the Russian Federation) took responsibility for the attack.

Spain tightened its counter-terrorism strategy after the 2004 terrorist attack in Madrid, writes. Further tightening of security measures took place in 2015, with particular attention paid to areas popular with tourists. Over the past few years, Spanish intelligence agencies have focused on identifying Islamist radicals with links to IS. Between 2013 and 2016 authorities detained 130 people on suspicion of terrorist activities.

Arrest of suspects in financing Islamic radicals. Spain, 2016

In its foreign policy, Spain also tried to protect itself from terrorist attacks. After the terrorist attack in Madrid, Spanish politicians were extremely skeptical about the operations carried out by the United States and NATO in countries like Libya and Mali. This was motivated by the fact that such interventions play into the hands of extremist leaders who use it as a means of anti-Western propaganda. However, Thursday's terrorist attack in Barcelona indicates that all these measures are insufficient.

He writes that the terrorist attack in Barcelona continues a series of terrorist attacks using vehicles. The largest terrorist attack of this kind was in France, in Nice, where a truck crashed into a crowd of people walking on Bastille Day (July 14, 2016), killing at least 84 people. After this, on December 19, there was a similar terrorist attack on the Christmas market in Berlin. Then 12 people died and more than 50 were wounded. This terrorist attack was one of the largest in Germany.

Screenshot of Instagram video

On March 22, 2016, five people were killed and more than 50 were injured when a car plowed into traffic on Westminster Bridge in London. On April 7, a truck crashed into a crowd in the center of Stockholm (four were killed). On June 3, there was another similar terrorist attack in London, this time on London Bridge (8 dead, dozens injured). On June 19, also in London, a car hit a group of people near a mosque (one died, ten more were injured). On August 9, in the suburbs of Paris, a car attacked a group of patrolmen, resulting in three injuries.

He writes that the use of vehicles in terrorist attacks is bad not only because it makes it difficult to prevent such incidents, but also because it helps to create panic. Because the murder weapon is not a specially designed device, but an ordinary means of transportation, it undermines the general sense of safety based on the expectation that drivers on the street at least try to obey the rules of the road. The effect is enhanced by the fact that such terrorist attacks are spontaneous and can be organized anywhere.

The author also considered it necessary to stipulate that when, under the influence of this kind of fear, the alienation of citizens among themselves grows in society, and they begin to sympathize with authoritarian policies, ready to sacrifice their civil liberties for the sake of security. In conclusion, the author notes that the latest wave of terrorist attacks in Europe has already begun to affect the structure of cities. This is manifested in the increase in the number of fences and barriers designed to protect people from attack by everyday objects.