At around 4.30pm on Thursday, a white van was deliberately driven through crowds in the busy Las Ramblas district, a popular tourist hot-spot.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, eyewitnesses said the vehicle was travelling at speeds of up to 80km/h when it mounted the footpath. It travelled for up to 500m, before coming to rest along the iconic promenade.
Many have taken to social media to share images of the horrific scene, showing injured pedestrians strewn across the ground in the van’s wake.
CNN reporter, Jim Sciutto, has described the scene as a “tangle of bodies.”
According to Catalan authorities, at least two police officers had also been run over in a separate attack on the outskirts of the city.
Two attackers have been arrested over the incident and Islamic State has claimed responsibility.
This is the deadliest act of terror in the north-eastern city since 2004, when Al-Qaida-inspired bombers killed 192 people in coordinated attacks on Madrid’s commuter trains.
This article first published on New Idea.
