Muslim van driver kills 13 pedestrians and injures 100 in Las Ramblas tourist area in Barcelona, by Iain Burns.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the massacre of 13 innocent pedestrians in a terror attack in the heart of Barcelona which left more than 100 injured, ten of them critically.

A rented Fiat van was driven into crowds in the tourist district of Las Ramblas yesterday afternoon before the driver escaped on foot. …

A further two suspects were arrested yesterday evening, a Moroccan and a Spanish national, but neither of them were at the wheel of the truck which indiscriminately killed and maimed victims in its path. …

Officials warn the death toll is likely to rise, with at least 10 people critically injured in yesterday afternoon’s atrocity in the heart of the city’s tourist district. …

Josep Lluis Trapero, the head of the regional police force the Mossos d’Esquadra, said the attack was designed ‘to kill as many people as possible’. …

Mr Trapero told a news conference: ‘At 16.50 a van entered the pedestrian area of the Rambla, and drove for many meters, running over hundreds of people.’

‘Many of them were injured and it caused the death of 13 people. The driver got out of the van and ran away. There was no shouting, no phrases which sometimes accompany such attacks. Witnesses called the emergency services and gave a description. …’

‘There is no evidence that the person who left the van was armed. We do not believe he was armed, at least visibly.’ …

Another witness, Isaac, said: ‘The person was accelerating. He mounted the pavement to run people over. We saw the van passing by running people over at 50 miles an hour. It was as if it was driving through a field of corn.’

A taxi driver told Catalan TV station TV3: ‘The van was doing zigzags knocking over everyone he could. It was shocking.’