Death toll in Spain attacks rises to 16

The death toll from August 17/18 terror attacks in Spain rose to 16 on Sunday, after a 51-year-old German woman died from injuries suffered in a vehicle attack in the Catalan capital, Barcelona.

The regional health department said the woman died in the intensive care unit of Barcelona's Hospital del Mar.

Authorities say 24 other people remain hospitalized, five in critical condition, following the vehicle attack in Barcelona on August 17 and another in the Catalan town of Cambril early the next day.

Fourteen of the now 16 deaths were caused by the attack in Barcelona, which occurred when a man plowed a van into crowds on the famous Las Ramblas boulevard, also injuring 120 people. The van driver then stabbed another man to death in a carjacking to make his getaway.

A woman was also killed in Cambrils in a stabbing spree by the five occupants of a car that drove at pedestrians before crashing into a police vehicle. The men were shot dead by police. Six other people were injured in the incident, which occurred some nine hours after the Barcelona attack.

United against terror

The man believed to have been the van driver in Barcelona, Younes Abouyaaqoub, was also shot dead by police on August 21. Two other members of the terrorist cell believed to be behind the attack died in an explosion at a house in the town of Alcanar thought to have been caused by stockpiled explosives.

Two more suspected members are in police custody on charges of murder, while another two men were freed last week due to a lack of evidence against them.

On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people took part in a march in Barcelona, with King Felipe VI also among those protesting against terrorist violence.

tj/rc (AP, AFP)