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Barcelona attack: Suspects 'planned to hit key monuments' | |
(35 minutes later) | |
The cell behind the Barcelona van attack had planned to use explosives against monuments including the city's Sagrada Familia cathedral, a suspect has told a Madrid court. | |
Mohamed Houli Chemlal is one of four surviving suspects giving evidence. | |
The group's plans were scaled back when a house packed with bomb-making equipment blew up the day before. | |
Houli Chemlal was injured in the accidental blast that reduced the house to rubble in the town of Alcanar. | |
The Alcanar explosion came the day before Thursday's Barcelona attack in which a van was driven at speed down the main Las Ramblas boulevard, killing 13 and injuring more than 100. | |
Judicial sources quoted Houli Chemlal as telling the court a much bigger series of attacks had been planned. | |
Assailants killed a total of 15 people in the van attack, the stabbing of a driver whose car was commandeered shortly afterwards, and a car attack in the resort of Cambrils hours later. | |
Eight members of the cell are dead - two were killed in the Alcanar explosion, and six were later shot by police, including five after the Cambrils attack. | |
The last suspect to be killed was Moroccan-born Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, believed to be the driver of the Las Ramblas van. | |
Wearing a fake explosives belt and armed with knives, he was shot dead by police in a vineyard west of Barcelona on Monday. | Wearing a fake explosives belt and armed with knives, he was shot dead by police in a vineyard west of Barcelona on Monday. |
The surviving suspects were moved, under high security, from Barcelona to Madrid for Tuesday's hearing. | The surviving suspects were moved, under high security, from Barcelona to Madrid for Tuesday's hearing. |
The four suspects have been charged in Madrid with terrorist murder. | |
Houli Chemlal was the first to testify, wearing hospital pyjamas. He is still being treated for his injuries from the blast in Alcanar. | Houli Chemlal was the first to testify, wearing hospital pyjamas. He is still being treated for his injuries from the blast in Alcanar. |
Driss Oukabir, whose brother Moussa was among suspects killed after the Cambrils attack, has also given evidence to the Madrid court. | |
According to judicial sources, he has changed his story to say that he admits renting vehicles used in the attacks but thought they were to be used for a house-move. | |
Under earlier police interrogation, he is said to have maintained that his brother Moussa hired the Las Ramblas van using documents stolen from him. | |
Two other suspects were killed in the Alcanar explosion, including Abdelbaki Es Satty, the Moroccan imam from the town of Ripoll thought to have been a radicalising influence on the suspects. | |
Also appearing in court are: | |
As Tuesday's Madrid hearing took place, Ana Suárez, a Spanish woman in her 60s killed in Cambrils, was buried in a private ceremony in Zaragoza. | |
Forty-five companies in a Catalonia association of undertakers and funeral companies have offered to perform funerals for the victims without charge. | Forty-five companies in a Catalonia association of undertakers and funeral companies have offered to perform funerals for the victims without charge. |
Meanwhile, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb has confirmed previous reports that some of the attackers made an overnight visit to France days before. | Meanwhile, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb has confirmed previous reports that some of the attackers made an overnight visit to France days before. |
He told BFMTV it had been an "extremely fast return trip" to the Essonne area of Paris on 11-12 August, during which their Audi A3 had been caught on speed cameras. | He told BFMTV it had been an "extremely fast return trip" to the Essonne area of Paris on 11-12 August, during which their Audi A3 had been caught on speed cameras. |
But he insisted the cell had no French links - "they were exclusively Spanish". | But he insisted the cell had no French links - "they were exclusively Spanish". |
Most of the 12 suspects lived in Ripoll, north of Barcelona close to the French border. All were young men of North African descent. | Most of the 12 suspects lived in Ripoll, north of Barcelona close to the French border. All were young men of North African descent. |