Don’t miss the latest developments in business and finance.

No Indian casualty in Spain terror attack: Sushma Swaraj

She also asked Indians to contact the Indian Embassy in case of an emergency

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj speaks during the ministry's Annual Press Conference in New Delhi
ANI New Delhi
Last Updated : Aug 18 2017 | 4:47 PM IST

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has said that there is no report of any Indian casualty in the terror attack in Spain where 13 people have been killed and more than 100 injured after a vehicle ploughed into pedestrians at Barcelona's famed Las Ramblas Boulevard tourist area.

External Affairs Minister tweeted that she is in constant touch with the Indian embassy in Spain. She also asked Indians to contact the Indian Embassy in the case of an emergency. Indian Embassy's emergency contact number is 34-608769335.

ISIS have claimed responsibility for the attack. According to US monitor SITE Intelligence Group, the extremist group's propaganda outlet AMAQ claimed that the executors of the attack were soldiers of the Islamic State.

Carles Puigdemont, the president of Spain's Catalonia region, confirming it a terror attack, said that police have arrested two people in this connection. Police said, the driver was still on the run. The Police has cordoned off the area around the incident and requested the closure of local metro and train stations.

The Catalan government are investigating on the assumption that two other deadly events, a terrorist incident in the seaside resort town of Cambrils and a house explosion further down the coast in Alcanar, were linked to the van attack in Barcelona carried out by the Islamic State terrorists.

The region's Interior Minister Joaquin Forn said that the Cambrils attack "follows the same trail. There is a connection", as reported by the local media.

More From This Section

He did not explain what connected the attacks. He confirmed the driver in the Barcelona attack remains at large.

The police force for Spain's Catalonia region confirmed that four suspects were shot dead, and a fifth, who was wounded and arrested, has since died, during the anti-terror operation in the resort town of Cambrils and the explosive belts they were carrying have been detonated by the force's bomb squad.

Six bystanders were wounded, one critically and another seriously. A police officer was also lightly injured in the counter-terror operation.

One of the suspects involved in the Barcelona attack was found dead in a car three kilometres from where police officers tried to stop him by firing at the vehicle he was in, reports El Pais.

Two suspects, one from Morocco, one from the Spanish enclave of Melilla, were arrested in connection with the Barcelona attack, Catalan Police Chief Josep Lluis Trapero said.

 

Also Read

First Published: Aug 18 2017 | 3:57 PM IST

Next Story