Barcelona On Alert After US Warns Of Possible Christmas Attack

Source: AFP

By Daniel Bosque, 1 hr. ago. Barcelona was on alert on Monday after the US State Department warned of the risk of a terrorist attack in Spain's second-largest city during the Christmas holidays.

Several police vehicles were parked on both ends of Barcelona's central Las Ramblas boulevard, which was targeted last year by a deadly van attack claimed by Islamic State militants. Some 30 police officers patrolled the boulevard, which is popular with locals and tourists, as well as a Christmas market in the nearby Plaza Cataluna, the city's main square.

"Exercise heightened caution around areas of vehicle movement, including buses, in the Las Ramblas area of Barcelona during Christmas and New Year's," the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs said in a tweet on Sunday. "Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, and other public areas." "We take seriously all threats, all of them are investigated," he said, without giving further details.

Top-selling Spanish newspaper El Pais, citing anonymous police sources, said authorities were looking for a Moroccan man with a licence to drive buses. Catalan daily El Periodico said Catalan regional police had circulated an internal note that the man, who was born in Casablanca, could try to drive a bus or other large vehicle into crowds in Barcelona. -MORE...


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