Islamic State militants have claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Barcelona which has killed 13 people and injured more than 80 others.
In a statement released by the IS-linked Amaq news agency, the group said that the attack in Barcelona was carried out by Islamic State soldiers.
“The perpetrators of the Barcelona attack are soldiers of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting coalition states,” the agency said in their statement, referring to a United States-led coalition against the Sunni militant group.
Isis claims of responsibility however are often unreliable, and do not necessarily indicate a direct connection between the attacker or attackers and the terror group.
The terror network has in recent times has advocated for its followers to carry out attacks of this nature in Western nations, rather than travelling to Syria and Iraq – where the Caliphate is rapidly losing its territory.
Vehicle attacks have been a common style of attack by these terrorists, with similar attacks occurring in London and other European cities recently.
Catalonia’s interior president, Joaquim Forn, said during a press conference that two people have been arrested following the attack and that 80 people have been hospitalised.
Local media has reported that one suspect has been killed in a shootout with police in the city’s outskirts, but there has been no official confirmation of this.
Catalan police also said via their official Twitter account that a driver ran into two policemen at a Barcelona checkpoint earlier on Thursday.
ATW Network 