Barcelona terror attack suspect Younes Abouyaaqoub was looking like a ‘hermit’ when he was gunned down by police after four days on the run, it was reported today.
The 22-year-old was said to be dressed in filthy clothes, suggesting that he had been living rough and had walked for around 30 miles from Barcelona across scrubland, woods and farmland to the area where he was killed.
Abouyaaquob, who was Europe’s most wanted man, was shot dead by two police officers yesterday afternoon on a footpath bordering vineyards in the Subirats district.
This is the spot where the hunt for Europe’s most wanted man came to an end in hail of gunfire on Monday. Younes Abouyaaqoub was looking like a ‘hermit’ when he was gunned down by police after four days on the run
The 22-year-old was said to be dressed in filthy clothes, suggesting that he had been living rough and had walked for around 30 miles from Barcelona across scrubland, woods and farmland to the area where he was killed
A local woman called in saying she was certain that she had seen Abouyaaqoub running in scrubland around a vineyard close to an Amoco petrol station
Target: Younes Abouyaaqoub, a 22-year-old Moroccan national who became Europe’s most wanted man after ploughing a van into pedestrian’s on Barcelona’s Las Ramblas leaving 13 dead, has been shot and killed by police
Abouyaaquob who was Europe’s most wanted man was shot dead by two police officers yesterday afternoon on a footpath bordering vineyards in the Subirats district
The Moroccan national who was wearing a fake suicide belt and reportedly carrying three knives was tracked down soon after two sightings of him in the area.
Abouyaaqoub had been a fugitive since he killed 13 people and injured more than 100 by mowing them down in a hired van in the Las Ramblas tourist hot spot in Barcelona last Thursday.
Police finally found him on the footpath on the outskirts of the wine-producing town of Sant Sadurni D’Anoia. A report in the Spanish newspaper Lavanguardia, said: ‘He looked like a hermit. He was filthy.’
The newspaper reported that Abouyaaqoub was wearing two shirts and trousers which were different from the clothing he was seen wearing immediately after his rampage in Barcelona.
It added: ‘He had no backpack, no bag, no phone, no money.’ He was said to be carrying two knives and a razor with two of the blades wrapped in plastic wrap. The newspaper claimed that Abouyaaqoub died with his eyes wide open and ‘his face disfigured by the impact of bullets.’
Police finally found him on the footpath on the outskirts of the wine-producing town of Sant Sadurni D’Anoia. A report in the Spanish newspaper Lavanguardia, said: ‘He looked like a hermit. He was filthy’
Abouyaaquob had been a fugitive since he killed 13 people and injured more than 100 by mowing them down in a hired van in the Las Ramblas tourist hot spot in Barcelona last Thursday. He was found close to the vinyard Ventura Soler
Police say Abouyaaquob was the last member of the terror cell that attacked Barcelona and Cambrils to be on the loose
Major Josep Lluis Trapero, the chief of the Catalan Police, said two local police officers had earlier reported seeing a man looking like the suspect while they were in their patrol car in the area.
At around the same time, a local woman called in saying she was certain that she had seen Abouyaaquob running in scrubland around a vineyard close to an Amoco petrol station.
The woman claimed that her suspicions were raised as he was wearing heavy clothing including a long sleeved top on a hot afternoon. Initial reports suggested that Abouyaaquob may have been in a car after the owner of the nearby Caves Ventura Soler vineyard reported seeing a vehicle speeding down his driveway on to a dirt track.
But Maria Ventura, the daughter of the owner, told Mailonline that it had turned out her father had actually seen an unmarked police car racing across her family’s land to investigate the sighting of Abouyaaquob.
Maria, 25, said: ‘My father had seen this car travelling on our land when we were closed. We later checked with the police and they told us that it was a police car with no markings on it.’
Abouyaacoub had managed to escape police twice before being tracked to this vineyard where he was shot dead wearing what officers believed to be a suicide vest, though it later turned out to be fake
It is not known what will become of Abouyaaquob’s body after he was shot dead. Muslim culture typically demands a swift burial, though communities sometimes refuse to honour the remains of terrorists
Abouyaaquob is thought to have run on to the footpath before being finally cornered by officers, around 30ft from the road about a kilometre from the main Caves Ventura Soler buildings. The spot is around 50metres from a railway line carrying inter-city trains and adjacent to a sewage treatment station.
Major Trapero said the terrorist was asked to stop and identify himself and lifted his shirt to show what appeared to be an explosive belt. Abouyaacoub then yelled, ‘Allahu Akbar’ before the officers shot him down. A bomb disposal robot later confirmed his suicide belt was fake.
Police are still investigating whether he may have been receiving help from anyone in the area.
Armed police were scrambled to the scene where they confronted Abouyaaquob, who died in a hail of bullets while shouting Allahu Akbar – God is greatest in Arabic
Bomb disposal experts work near the scene where Abouyaaquob was shot dead while wearing a suicide vest – though that device has been confirmed as a fake
Maria Rosell, the mayor of Sant Sadurni D’Anoia, refused to identify the woman who spotted the terrorist and alerted police. She said: ‘This local woman called police at around 4.30pm to say she had seen the terrorist running near the petrol station.
‘She said she was an expert in remembering faces and realised that it was the man who was wanted. The police went to check and they found him here. Local people are frightened and conscious of the situation.
‘Police are looking at what brought him to this area and whether he might have had any local help. This has always been a safe and peaceful place.’
Last night Catalan police tweeted a message thanking the woman who contacted police, describing her as ‘Citizenship X’.
The tweet on the force’s official @mossos account said: ‘Our gratitude to the citizenship x the decisive collaboration in the operation of #Subirats. You are an important piece to fight terrorism’.
Some locals told Mail Online that Abouyaaquob was actually spotted at a petrol station attempting to refill his car around 1km away from where he was shot dead, but was recognised
An ambulance is driven away from the vineyard where Abouyaaquob was shot dead by police who had been hunting him since the Las Ramblas attack on Thursday last week
CCTV footage emerged yesterday of Moroccan national Abouyaaquob walking calmly through the La Boqueria food market shortly after his killing spree in Las Ramblas.
He then crossed Barcelona as a frantic hunt was underway for him and hijacked a white Ford Focus, stabbing the driver Pau Perez to death before putting the 34-year-old electrical engineer’s body in the back seat.
Mr Perez is believed to have been on the phone to his family to reassure them he was okay after the Las Ramblas carnage when he was attacked. Abouyaaqoub later drove through a police roadblock at Sant Just Desvern on the outskirts of Barcelona, as police opened fire later on Thursday.
Armed officers patrol a road near Subirats. Police were telling locals to stay inside amid fears Abouyaaquob had an accomplice who was still on the loose, but this information has been confirmed as false
Catalonian Police Mossos d’Esquadra work at the site where they have shot Abouyaaqoub dead on Monday evening
Ghanno Gaanimi, Abouyaaquob’s mother (left), pleaded for her son to hand himself over to police on Saturday in Ripoll, the town where the majority of the attackers lived
How the Spain terror attacks unfolded day-by-day, from the town of Ripoll where the plot was hatched, to the outskirts of Subirats, where van driver Younes Abouyaaquob was shot dead
He abandoned the car nearly two miles away at the side of the road with the body of former aid worker Mr Perez still inside. It is not known if he then headed off on foot or found another vehicle.
One suggestion is that he might have headed to the wine-producing region in a bid to fit in as many Moroccans work in vineyards in the area.
Pere Pons, the mayor of Subirats, today posted an official notice on his council’s website praising the ‘effort and professionalism’ of police in hunting down Abouyaaqoub. He said that officers had risked their lives to ‘defend the democratic aspects of Catalan society ‘.
THE FATE OF THE BARCELONA TERROR CELL
The death of Abouyaacoub on Monday evening brings to an end the worst terror attack on Spanish soil in 13 years, as police say all 12 member of the cell which carried it out are either dead or arrested.
Those men are:
DEAD: Abdelbaki Es Satty – Thought to have masterminded the plot, he preached at a mosque in Ripoll where most of the attackers and suspects lived. Police confirmed on Monday that he was killed in an explosion in Alcanar on Wednesday
DEAD: Younes Abouyaaqoub – Police say he was the man behind the wheel of the van that killed 13 on Las Ramblas. He was tracked to the town of Subirats on Monday before being shot dead
DEAD: Moussa Oukabir – Shot dead in Cambrils on Friday morning after launching a gun and knife attack on pedestrians. He was initially named as the driver of the van in Barcelona
Abdelbaki Es Satty (left), an extremist imam and likely plot mastermind, was killed in an explosion at a bomb factory in Alcanar on Wednesday. Younes Abouyaaquob (right) was shot dead by police on Monday
Terrorists Moussa Oukabir, left, and Said Aalaa, right were shot dead by police in Cambrils
DEAD: Said Aallaa – The 18-year-old was from the village of Ribes de Freser and shot dead in Cambrils
DEAD: Mohamed Hychami – The 24-year-old lived in Ripoll and was shot dead by a police officer in Cambrils
DEAD: Omar Hychami – Mohamed’s brother, died alongside him in Cambrils. Their father believes they were radicalised by local imam Abdelbaki Es Satty
DEAD: Houssaine Abouyaaqoub – From Ripoll and shot dead in Cambrils, he is the brother of the Barcelona van driver suspect
DEAD: Youssef Aallaa – Spanish police say he was almost certainly killed in the blast in Alcanar
Brothers Mohamed Hychami (left) and Omar Hychami (right) who were shot dead in Cambrils on Friday
Houssaine Abouyaaqoub (left), Younes’ brother, was shot dead in Cambrils. Youssef Aallaa died in the explosion in Alcanar
The scene of the explosion in Alcanar, which was being used as a bomb-making factory by the terror cell
ARRESTED: Mohamed Houli Chemlal – Pulled from the rubble of the house in Alcanar, he was wounded but not killed and is now in detention. He is believed to be the group’s bomb-maker
ARRESTED: Salah El Karib – The owner of an internet cafe in Ripoll, he was detained on Friday at his house in the town’s north. His wife has protested his innocence
ARRESTED: Mohamed Aalaa – Owner of the car used in the Cambrils attack. Also detained at his house in north Ripoll on Friday. He is the brother of dead Cambrils attacker Said
ARRESTED: Driss Oubakir – The brother of dead Cambrils attacker Moussa. He handed himself over to police after it was revealed documents in his name were used to rent the van used in the Barcelona attack. He remains in detention and is being questioned
Mohamed Houli Chemlal was injured in the Alcanar explosion before being dragged from the rubble and arrested. Sahel el Kaib, the owner of an internet cafe in the town of Ripoll, where most of the suspects came from, has also been arrested
Mohamed Aallaa was detained after his car was used in the Cambrils attack. Driss Oukabir handed himself over to police after his identity documents were used to rent the van used in the Barcelona attack