Page 36 - 082217

Groton Daily Independent
Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 053 ~ 36 of 45
and materials needed for the TATP explosive, which has been used previously by Islamic State militants for attacks in Paris and Brussels, among others.
The equipment, along with reports that Abouyaaqoub had rented three vans, suggested the militant cell was making plans for an even more massive attack on the city.
Family and friends of the young men, nearly all with roots in Morocco, described them as well-integrated members of the community in Ripoll, a quintessentially Catalan town nestled into the foothills of the Pyr- enees.
“I knew everyone implicated in the attacks. These were people who avoided problems, kept their distance when they saw a ght,” Saber Oukabir, a cousin of two of the attackers, said.
The group members started spending time with the imam who police think was their ideological leader about six months ago, Oukabir said. “I don’t know what could have happened, if he manipulated them, if he drugged them or what.”
Fernando Reinares, director of the program on global terrorism at Spain’s Elcano Royal Institute, said imams such as Abdelbaki Es Satty have made strong inroads into the region’s community of North African immigrants, often reaching their Spanish-born children.
“He successfully exploited the dense, overlapping, pre-existing kinship, friendship and neighborhood ties between these young Muslims,” Reinares said in an email to The Associated Press. “One of the reasons why Catalonia is the main scenario for both jihadist radicalization and involvement in the whole of Spain is certainly related to the extraordinary, unparalleled concentration in the region of Sala st congregations and imams, such as Es Satty.”
Regional authorities said Monday that 48 people were still hospitalized from the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, eight of them in critical condition.
Catalonia’s regional president, meanwhile, said regional and local authorities had rejected the Spanish government’s suggestion to place traf c barriers to protect the Las Ramblas promenade because they deemed them “inef cient.”
Carles Puigdemont told La Sexta television the barriers wouldn’t have prevented vehicles from entering the promenade at other points — and he said closing off Las Ramblas was impractical because emergency vehicles still needed access.
On Monday, crowds of people continued to lay owers, candles and heart-shaped balloons at the top of the pedestrian promenade where the van struck and at other smaller tributes.
Las Ramblas also regained some normality, with throngs of people walking up and down, tourists arriving and residents going about their daily business.
“We have to stand strong in front of these betrayers, assassins, terrorists,” said resident Monserrat Mora. “Because Barcelona is strong and they will not be able to prevail with us.”
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Parra contributed from Madrid along with Ciaran Giles. Hinnant contributed from Barcelona. Reda Zeireg in Rabat, Morocco contributed.
French police rule out terror in van’s fatal bus stop hits By MARGAID QUIOC, Associated Press
MARSEILLE, France (AP) — A van rammed into two bus stops in the French port city of Marseille on Mon- day, killing one person and injuring another, but investigators ruled out terrorism as a motive, police said. The driver of the van, arrested in a third location, was a 35-year-old from the Grenoble region in eastern
France who was being treated for psychological problems, a Marseille police of cial said.
“The terrorist motive is completely rejected,” the of cial, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keep-
ing with French law enforcement practice, said.
The collisions at the bus stops about 5 kilometers (3 miles) apart came days after back-to-back van at-
tacks in Barcelona and Spanish resort town of Cambrils killed 15 people. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the double attacks.