The black shadow of the Barcelona attacks: an unexpected explosion and two improvised attacks – El Mundo

Updated Wednesday, August 17, 2022 – 02:19The deflagration of the material they were handling killed two terrorists and led the rest to change their plan and attack La Rambla and CambrilsDemonstration rejecting the attack on La Rambla and Cambrils in 2017.J. MARTNEZTribute Music and flowers to remember the victims of the attack on La Rambla five years later Terrorism The open wounds of 17-A: Victims of the attack on La Rambla denounce that they feel abandoned The attacks of August 17, 2017 on La Rambla and on the dawn of August 18 in Cambrils would not be understood without the explosion of a house in Alcanar (Tarragona) on the afternoon of August 16. In that building, a terrorist cell led by the former imam of Ripoll Abdelbaki es Saty and made up of young people from the town of Moroccan origin who had been in Catalonia since childhood were preparing explosive devices for a major attack for which they had not yet chosen a date and place. .The explosion killed the imam and a member of the group. Another survived, Mohamed Houli Chemlal, sentenced to 43 years in prison by the National High Court. The Alcanar deflagration forced the rest of the group, younger members, to improvise. On August 17, a second explosion in the same house injured twenty Mossos and firefighters. It was then that the agents began to talk about a terrorist attack. After learning what had happened in Alcanar, Younes Abouyaaqoub, who had gone to pick up a van to load the explosives, decided to go to La Rambla and run over as many people as possible. He killed 13 -another woman of German origin ended up dying as a result of her injuries- and wounded 161. The van was stopped in Pla de l’s. Younes Abouyaaqoub escaped from there through the Boquera market and arrived at Diagonal, where he killed another man, stabbing him with a knife, to steal his car. He skipped a Mossos checkpoint at the exit of the city, injuring several agents, and after leaving the car parked he escaped on foot. He was killed five days later in Subirats (Barcelona), when he threatened to blow up a simulated explosives belt. Five other members of the cell launched a second attack. In the early hours of August 17, they ran over several people and attacked others with knives before a Mosso shot them all down. In that attack, a woman died and seven people were injured. In May 2021, the National High Court imposed sentences of between eight and 53 years in prison on the three defendants. To Mohamed Houli and Driss Oukabir, for being part of the terrorist cell; Said Ben Iazza, for collaboration. Contrary to what the private accusations requested -but not the Prosecutor’s Office-, the court refused to convict them of the murders and injuries, for which the Justice holds the deceased terrorists responsible. A few weeks ago, the The Court’s Appeals Chamber lowered the sentences of Houli and Oukabir for technical reasons, which were left at 43 and 36 years respectively. The effective compliance limit remains at 20 years, with which nothing changes for practical purposes. The Chamber once again refused to convict them of the specific attacks, as well as holding the State responsible for not having prevented them from acquiring materials that could be used as explosives. The three defenses have appealed to the Supreme Court. Also two accusations, which again ask for direct conviction for the murders and uphold the subsidiary civil liability of the State. According to the criteria of The Trust Project Learn more