Van plows through crowd in Las Ramblas tourist area; 4 Filipinos among those hurt

  BARCELONA – Thirteen people died and more than a hundred others were injured when a van rammed through a crowd in Las Ramblas, a popular tourist area in Barcelona. Two suspects have been apprehended but Spanish police said neither of them was the van driver who immediately fled the area. Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy described the incident as a terror act. The Islamic State, for its part claimed responsibility for the attack. In a brief statement carried by its Amaq news agency, the Islamic State described the attackers as "soldiers of ISIS" but did not show proof to back up its claim. The rented van drove down the pedestrian lane, deliberately hitting pedestrians as it swerved from side to side, prompting others to run for cover or out of the path of the speeding vehicle, reports said quoting witnesses. Witnesses saw people "flying into the air" after being hit by the van. The Barcelona attack is reminiscent of horrific incidents in cities across Europe since July last year involving the use of vehicles to mow down people. In Cambrils, a city located southwest of Barcelona, a second terror incident with the use of a vehicle has occurred. Spanish broadcaster TVE said police have "taken down" four suspected terrorists in Cambrils but Catalan authorities said the suspects have been "neutralized" and won't confirm their deaths. Catalan police tweeted: "We are working under the assumption that the events in Cambrils are related to a terrorist attack. We have brought down those allegedly responsible." People in Cambrils have been ordered to stay indoors. Prime Minister Rajoy told reporters: "I want to also express my solidarity with all of Spain to the city of Barcelona, today hit by jihadi terrorism, like other cities have been in the world. I want my first words in Barcelona to be of grief, of remembrance, and solidarity to the victims of this attack, and to their family members and friends." Business Insider reported that the Mossos d'Esquandra police released a photograph of Driss Oukabir, 28, who claimed that his identification documents were used to rent the van used in the attack. The Spanish press reported that Oukabir went to a police station to inform them that his identification papers had been stolen and he turned himself in after seeing his picture in the media. Spanish daily El Pais took photos of Oukabir from his Facebook account and the pictures matched with the one released by police in Mossos d'Esquandra. El Pais also said Oukabir is a legal resident of Spain who was born in Morocco and that Oukabir rented the vehicle in the town of Santa Perpetua. Oukabir's Facebook account, which has been taken down, stated that he was originally from Marseilles, France and now lives in the city of Ripoll in Spain. Meanwhile, reports quoted authorities in Spain as revealing that an explosion on Wednesday evening at a house outside Barcelona that left one person dead was connected to the Las Ramblas attack. Reports said dozens of gas cylinders were found at the house in the town of Alcanar, located 62 miles southwest of Barcelona. A police source was quoted by Reuters as saying that the house's occupants were preparing explosives. In another incident, police shot dead a man who drove into police officers at a checkpoint near Barcelona but authorities believe that the man was not connected to the attack in Las Ramblas. The Philippines has revealed that four Filipinos were among those injured in the Barcelona van attack, which was condemned by Manila. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said a report rom Honorary Consul Jordi Puig Roches stated that four members of a Filipino-Irish family were hurt in the attack. The DFA did not release the names of those who were hurt. The DFA said the mother and her daughter have been released from the hospital but the father and son are still under observation and are being assisted by the Irish Honorary Consul in Spain. 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