A man wearing an explosive belt has been shot by police in Subirats, west of Barcelona, local news reports.
The man is believed to be Barcelona terrorist attack suspect Younes Abouyaaqoub, a 22-year-old Moroccan national.
Abouyaaqoub, from Ripoll, Catalonia, has been the target of an international manhunt since Thursday’s van attack in Barcelona.
Authorities say they now have evidence he drove the van that plowed down the city’s famed Las Ramblas promenade, killing 13 pedestrians and injuring more than 120 others.
Target: The man shot by police is believed to be Barcelona terrorist attack suspect Younes Abouyaaqoub
The oldest son of immigrant parents, Younes was born in Mrirt, a remote village in the mountains between Fez and Marrakesh.
His father Omar had got a job in Ripoll in the timber industry and aged four Younes traveled with his mother Ghanno Gaanimi and younger brother Houssa to Spain, taking the ferry across the Straits of Gibraltar for the first time in 1999.
The Abouyaaquob brothers enrolled at a local school where their Moroccan background and lack of Spanish was not unusual among the 1,000-strong immigrant community.
Younes is described as ‘normal’ by his peer group in Ripoll – from both Spanish and Moroccan families.
A man wearing an explosive belt has been shot in Subirats, west of Barcelona (pictured)
A family friend told MailOnline: ‘Younes was just a normal young man, like the others who have been caught up in this mess.’
A teenage neighbour added: ‘Younes was a nice guy. A bit shy, but a nice guy. God knows what happened to him for him to have done what he did?’
Strong and athletic, Younes even won trophies for running and climbing.
He got a job at a local factory after school, gaining diplomas in health and safety at work and became a qualified fork lift truck driver.
However over the past year he became increasingly obsessed with Islam, praying more frequently and reading up about the prophet Mohammed.
His relatives claim he was brainwashed.
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