GUILTY Spain - Van plows into city center in Barcelona, injuries reported in "massive crash", Aug 2017

[ZaZara]

LAST MEMBER OF THE TERROR CELL IDENTIFIED

El Confidencial
https://www.elconfidencial.com/espa...aalla-terroristas-atentado-barcelona_1433269/

The Mossos d'Esquadra have confirmed that Youssef Aalla, one of those implicated in the jihadist cell that is behind the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, died in the explosion of the house in Alcanar (Tarragona) during the morning before the murderous attack on Las Ramblas.

Youssef Aalla is the brother of Said Aalla who was shot dead in Cambrils.

He is also the brother of Mohamed Aalla, arrested by the Mossos and owner of the vehicle with which terrorists attacked the promenade of Cambrils. Mohamed Aalla has been released conditionally by the National Court because the evidence about his alleged collaboration with the jihadist cell "is not strong enough." After this, he returned to Ripoll Wednesday by taxi from Madrid.

Speaking to the media, the father of the three, Brahim Aalla, said he had not seen his son Youssef for more than a month, because he was working in Tarragona. From Ripoll, the father of the Aalla brothers has indicated that Said, who was shot dead in Cambrils, had eaten at home the day of the attack. "They came to pick him up about 15:30," he says, adding that he was watching TV and sleeping at the time.

"All of us parents of these kids, we are not feeling well because we do not want this," the father of the Aalla brother lamented, before adding that his son Mohamed, already released, knew nothing and they are afraid of what may happen to him.


BBM


A family at lunch. They eat. Youssef (20) isn't there because he died in an explosion the day before. The parents do not know this. If brother Said (19) has heard about Youssef's death, he does not mention it. They eat. Someone comes knocking at the door. Friends of Said. Good afternoon! Peace be with you all! The friends have come to collect Said, they are going out together. They'll be driving Mohamed's car. They do not mention any explosion, they do not mention that Youssef has died. Said grabs his wallet and his phone and off he goes. The father dozes on the couch. The TV blasts the usual noisy afternoon series and commercials. One and a haf hour to go before the attack on the Ramblas in Barcelona. Less than 12 hours before the knife rampage in Cambrils

 

[ZaZara]

15 BOMBS WERE READY IN THE HOUSE IN ALCANAR TO BE USED THE NEXT DAY

El Mundo.es
http://www.elmundo.es/espana/2017/08/24/599df34fe5fdea9c4a8b4574.html

The jihadist cell was preparing 15 bombs in the house of Alcanar (Tarragona), that would ready for attacks with car bombs the next day or in a period of three weeks. This becomes clear from the arrest warrant issued by the judge of the National Court Fernando Andreu for Mohamed Houli Chemlal and Driss Oukabir, and this is revealed by the second of the statements made by Houli Chemlal to the Mossos d'Esquadra.
Two hours and 55 minutes before the explosion in house, members of the cell bought 15 pillowcases and bridles in Sant Carles de la Rápita, another town in Tarragona, 16 kilometers from Alcanar, 20 minutes by car from the place of the incident. The purchase was made at 20.25 hours on 16 August - the eve of the attacks - and the explosion in the house occurred at 23.30. Indeed, among the remains of the house were found various pillowcases and bridles.

The investigated evidence shows that the alleged terrorists bought the covers and the clamps with the intention of preparing the bombs the night of the 16 of August. In fact, on that day, they already had the rest of the materials necessary to manufacture the explosives, as evidenced by the proof of purchase found in the farmhouse of Riudecanyes (Tarragona).

There were 500 liters of acetone, hydrogen peroxide, bicarbonate, nails to be used as shrapnel, pushbuttons to activate an explosion and butane cylinders, and "among others" materials that were not detailed by the judge in his file. It should be remembered that the proceedings of this investigation are kept secret.

The aim of the people who were in the house was to manufacture what is known as the mother of Satan. In other words, acetone peroxide -TATP (triacetone triperoxide). Physical and chemical experts consulted by this newspaper agree that it is an explosive for which the ingredients can easyily be acquired, but its manufacture is complicated if you are inexperienced.

"The danger arises at the moment when the mixture is stirred to make the explosive," warns Antonio Ruiz de Elvira, professor of Applied Physics at the University of Alcalá de Henares (Madrid). The reason is that acetone peroxide is the result of mixing hydrogen peroxide, acetone and sulfuric acid in a container, which can be metal or plastic.

The problem arises when the utensil used to move the mixture is of the same material as the container. In that case, sparks can be created that are barely visible to the human eye, but that set into movement a chain reaction that causes an explosion. The experts we consulted suggest that the explosion occurred in the house of Alcanar could be product of this process of production.

At the time of the incident, three people were in the house. Two of them died and one survived. The survivor was, precisely, Melilla Houli Chemlal, imprisoned in the prison of Alcalá Meco (Madrid) since last Tuesday. Houli told the Mossos that the rest of the members of the cell who were in the building told him that the artifacts were not yet ready and that they had to wait until they were dried up so that they could be transported in the vans to the places where the cell would detonate them. However, the plan to perpetrate that "major terrorist action", as Judge Andreu called it, with car bombs was thwarted by the explosion.

The alleged terrorists did not manage to finish manufacturing the 15 artifacts. Indeed the pillowcases were bought to pour the peroxide mixture at the time it was wet - in mud, as the experts define it - and the flanges would be used to close the covers to the point where the mixture would be well compressed, in order to shape it and wait until it had dried.

In fact, Judge Andreu himself warns that the pillows were "most likely" meant to contain the explosive devices inside them, "ready to be used." It is advisable to inform that the use of cloth to dry the mixture is habitual, because it is a fabric that helps to absorb better the humidity.

Acetone peroxide needs one night for the drying process. So, once dry, the bomb can be moved without serious danger that it explodes due to the movements. Once manufactured, the artefact has a median life of three weeks. In response to Chemlal's statement, the plan was to place the explosives in the vans and leave the vehicles in the targets chosen to attack.

However, it should not be forgotten that in the house of Alcanar also "a lot of butane cylinders" and nails to use as shrapnel were stored. And it so happens that the explosion of a car bomb is increased when also used gas cylinders and nails. That is to say, in the interior of the vehicle the bombs are placed, next to the cylinders and the nails, so that when they are detonated - a car battery will do, or four square piles to make an electrical circuit and provoke a spark with a remote button -, the explosion and damage are greater. The cylinders are heated by the heat of the explosion of the bombs and the butane multiplies by 20 its explosive power, burning in just one second. "The explosion of the bombs generates such an energy that everything around them explodes." Undoubtedly, "these home-made elements have a very big impact," in the words of Ruiz de Elvira.


BBM

 

[gregjrichards]

THE VICTIMS

View attachment 122129


The youngest victim, top left, is XAVI MARTINEZ. Xavi was 3 years old.
He was in Barcelona for the day with his family. His great-uncle, Francisco López, second on the left, was pushing his buggy when they were hit by the van. They both died. The other members of the family, Xavi's sister, mother and great-aunt, were gravely wounded.

There are hardly any pictures of little Xavi on the internet and Google appears not to know him.


:rose:

Oh no what a beautiful little boy. It is just heartbreaking. Rest In Peace Xavi I'm so sorry this evil happened to you.

I'm so sorry for all the victims they didn't deserve this. May they all Rest In Peace.

ZaZara Thank you so much for your detailed and informative updates. Much appreciated. :tyou:

Thank you from me too ZaZara you always find the most useful information from excellent sources.

 

[ZaZara]

Hi Jessie, Hi Greg, and all on this thread, thank you so much for your kind words. :blushing: :blushing:
I'm happy and honoured that you appreciate my contributions.
One of my motivations is that I want to make info available that mainly English-speaking people would otherwise probably not get, because their MSM do not publish it, or leave out certain details. And I think it is important that voices in a different language also have a chance to be heard.

I could not do this without my dear friend Google Translate, but we have a rocky relationship, since mr G. T. insists in making the same mistakes over and over, and getting things utterly wrong on other occasions - leading me to conclude that G.T. is indeed a male, and a stubborn one too :wink:

As for terrorism in Europe, after reading and writing so much about it, I am very pessimistic about the future of Europe. The system here favours evil and authorities do either far too little to stop that, or even actively advocate it, for instance with open borders, migrant ferries, a total lack of control of who is getting in and legislation that always sides with the foreign culprit and never with the domestic victim. Very sad, and we, the good people of Europe, deserve better.

:sigh:

 

[Spellbound]

Hi Jessie, Hi Greg, and all on this thread, thank you so much for your kind words. :blushing: :blushing:
I'm happy and honoured that you appreciate my contributions.
One of my motivations is that I want to make info available that mainly English-speaking people would otherwise probably not get, because their MSM do not publish it, or leave out certain details. And I think it is important that voices in a different language also have a chance to be heard.

I could not do this without my dear friend Google Translate, but we have a rocky relationship, since mr G. T. insists in making the same mistakes over and over, and getting things utterly wrong on other occasions - leading me to conclude that G.T. is indeed a male, and a stubborn one too :wink:

As for terrorism in Europe, after reading and writing so much about it, I am very pessimistic about the future of Europe. The system here favours evil and authorities do either far too little to stop that, or even actively advocate it, for instance with open borders, migrant ferries, a total lack of control of who is getting in and legislation that always sides with the foreign culprit and never with the domestic victim. Very sad, and we, the good people of Europe, deserve better.

:sigh:

Add my thanks for your work here, zaZara! We get so much from you that would otherwise be unreadable to mot of us. And yes ... Mr GT must be a man, a stubborn man at that.

unfirtunately, the evil and terrorism seems to be all over the world now. I pray for humanity and a return to respect for human lives

 

[ZaZara]

SPANISH JUDGE HALTED THE EXTRADITION OF THE RIPOLL IMAM BECAUSE OF HIS EFFORTS TO INTEGRATE

El Pais
https://politica.elpais.com/politica/2017/08/23/actualidad/1503495429_951992.html

His "efforts to integrate in Spain" and an "evident labor roots" reflected in six years, six months and 16 days of contribution to the Social Security were two of the arguments put forward by the Judge of Contentious Administrative 2 of Castellón when he annulled in March of 2015 the expulsion order against Abdelbaki Es Satty, imam of Ripoll (Girona). The magistrate also did not detect a "real and sufficiently serious threat to public order or public safety" in the case of the person convicted of drug trafficking, which would have justified his deportation.

The suspected leader of the cell that carried out attacks last week in Barcelona and Cambrils was threatened with an expulsion order issued by the Subdelegación of the Government in Castellón. He had served a four-year prison sentence handed down in February 2012 by the Criminal Court 2 of Ceuta for a drug trafficking offense he committed on January 1, 2010. The State Attorney's Office did not appeal the judicial decision. The court in Castellón decided on the appeal filed by Es Satty, who died in the explosion of housing in Alcanar (Tarragona).

Abdelbaki Es Satty had no other conviction. According to sources from the High Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJCV), the judicial files only record the drug traffic, but there was no information on possible links with terrorism.

The sentence handed down on March 2, 2015 by the Castellón court, the content of which was published by El Mundo, indicates that the appellant, "long-term resident", had demonstrated his "obvious labor roots and efforts to integrate" in Spain through accreditation of a labor contract and the period quoted in the Social Security of six years, six months and 16 days.

The petition also argues the time passed since in the commission of the crime, which occurred in January 2010, and the fact that it was an isolated crime. "Although the conduct imputed is serious, it can not be ignored that we are facing a single criminal fact distant in the time" committed "more than five years ago (...)".

This set of circumstances stopped the expulsion of the Ripoll imam, in application of the new national and European jurisprudential doctrine. According to the latter, the deportation of a long-term resident foreigner convicted of an offense punishable by more than one year's imprisonment is not automatic and it is necessary to assess the specific circumstances of each case and that there should exist a "real and sufficiently serious threat" for public order or public safety." The magistrate of the court of Castellón understood that the automatic expulsion requested by the State Attorney "violates the principle of proportionality."

Its decision is based on extensive jurisprudence. The sentence extends over 20 pages. 14 of these 20 pages are filled with citations of resolutions of the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court and the Superior Courts of Justice of Castile and Leon, Basque Country, Cantabria or the Audiencia de Vizcaya, among others.


BBM

2010 Foreigner commits crime and is convicted, with an expulsion order after prison time
2010 - 2014 Foreigner is in prison because convicted of crime
2015 Crime is considered a thing of the past, expulsion is halted

The longer the prison time, the more the crime is a thing of the remote past.
Let that sink in.


:gaah:

 

[ZaZara]

THE IMAM EDUCATED THE TERRORISTS IN TAKFIR WAL HIJRA, THE MOST CLANDESTINE FORM OF SALAFISM

El Pais
https://politica.elpais.com/politica/2017/08/24/actualidad/1503585337_048149.html


The twelve youngsters who were part of the terrorist cell that carried out the attacks in Barcelona were radicalized by the sect Takfir Wal Hijra (Anathema and Exile), the most clandestine and secretive current of Salafism, the so-called hate club, according to information received by El Pais from sources from the anti-terror brigade.

The takfiris are the most radical and violent movement of fundamentalism. They are on the list of terrorist organizations of the European Union and constitute the most dangerous nucleus of jihadism because of the invisibility of its members. Everything indicates that Aldelbaky Es Satty, the Moroccan imam who captivated the terrorists, indoctrinated the group in this movement, so hidden and difficult to detect that it is a nightmare for the Security Forces.

The main characteristic of takfiri is that they break the sacred rules of other jihadist movements. And they do this with the aim to avoid detection. They wear western clothes, sport shoes, drink alcohol, consume drugs, listen to music (music is the devil's flute for other Islamists), dance, watch TV, go out with women and consume pork. They flee like the plague from short tunics, which leave the ankles exposed to air as a sign of purity, and from beards and long goatees.

All that is forbidden to the rest, all Western "vices" are allowed for them for the good of concealment and clandestinity. The "sin" is allowed for the good of jihad. Thus the twelve young people escaped the radar of all intelligence services. They became "invisible" because, unlike members of other cells, they left the straight path to mimic the landscape that they dreamed of attacking.

"That would explain why neither the imam nor any of the twelve members of the cell ever showed any external signs of radicalism, why they kept their routines without drawing anyone's attention," a police officer said. "It is a behavior that greatly hinders our work and that of the informers who help us detect young people willing to radicalize," according to an operative agent of the Security Forces.

The presence of the Takfir Wal Hijra movement in Spain is not new. Reports from the National Intelligence Center (CNI) in 2007 alerted to the growth of this current and the opening of six small mosques, four in Barcelona and two in Valencia, led by takfiris. Their imams were Moroccans and Algerians, types with profiles and attitudes identical to that of Ripoll's imam, a discreet fellow who never uttered the word jihad from the pulpit, nor raised suspicions among his faithful and locals.

A report from the Police's General Information Office, dated April 19, 2008, warned a year later about the presence of takfiris in Spain. The document analyzed the wave of suicide bombings in Algiers and Casablanca, and highlighted the increase in social polarization and radicalization of "a part" of the Muslim community.

"A strongly re-Islamized society and the globalization of jihad favor that in Spain a new threat has been detected from the hands of isolated territorial groups and integrated by young Islamists defined as second generation," the confidential document reads. The author added that this new layer of potential terrorists followed the takfiri movement, of which, according to the authors of the report, some of the main protagonists of the 11-M bombers were followers too.

The analysts of this police force, the most active from an operational point of view in the fight against Islamist terrorism, described the evolution of this trend: "Their commitment to the permissiveness of criminal activities, their self-exclusion as the only guarantors of the right Islam and their hatred and rejection of the rest of the Muslims considered to be corrupt or apostate have made it the ideal breeding ground for the uprooted youths of Muslims in the West. "

Abdelbaky Es Satty, the imam who died in the explosion in the house in Alcanar, the guy who dreamed of blowing himself up with an explosive vest, was an excellent simulator. He deceived almost everyone in his role of discreet man who preached peace. Because the takfiris usually flee from the mosques and its members usually pray in the mountain under the light of the moon. That would explain, in the opinion of the antiterrorist sources consulted, why he met with the young people in a van.

The alleged leader of the cell had no history of Islamist terrorism or aroused anyone's suspicions, except when he travelled to Vilvoorde, one of the cradles of jihadism in Belgium, and offered to work in a mosque. He was asked to show his criminal record and declined to do so, raising suspicions of local authorities. He had been in prison for drug trafficking for four years.
His only fault, the only mistake of a person who has followed takfires guidelines, pretending to be a good man, and transmittted these guidelines to all the members of the cell.

Fatima Mohand Abdelkader, a young Melilla woman from the Cañada de Hidum, the most depressed neighborhood in the city, was inside the hate club. In 2009 she revealed to EL PAÍS her experiences with the takfiris who forced her to wear a burka, to wear gloves to the elbows and not to look into the eyes of a man who was not her father. She had to hang up her T-shirts and miniskirts in a closet.

"They only wore jellabahs when they prayed in the forest on the sly. They should wear them, but they dressed in the opposite way. One day I asked them: You ask us to wear the burka and yet you wear what you want. And they answered me: "We do it so that they do not follow us, so that the police do not notice us." When Fatima was about to leave the sect, the members murdered her boyfriend and she left the group and denounced her experience. Years later, the young woman returned to the group and married a bearded man with whom she has had several children.


BBM

 

[jessie]

Interesting the reports of the prison sentences ZaZara re your post #346 above,

There seems to be a huge - somehow insurmountable - problem with Muslims being radicalised in prisons. I understand this is world-wide.

I shall put this link for information if anyone interested, but of course do not wish to begin a discussion on this :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_to_Islam_in_prisons

 

[ZaZara]

Interesting the reports of the prison sentences ZaZara re your post #346 above,

There seems to be a huge - somehow insurmountable - problem with Muslims being radicalised in prisons. I understand this is world-wide.

I shall put this link for information if anyone interested, but of course do not wish to begin a discussion on this :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_to_Islam_in_prisons

Abdelbaki Es Satty wasn't radicalized in prison, he was a jihadist who managed to elude the authorities. During his time in prison for drug related crimes (something a proper imam would not be doing, or am I missing something?) he lead the prayers and probably radicalized a few others.

I found more info about his life before that prison time. Will put that here later. They should have kicked that man out and never let him in again.

:maddening:

 

[ZaZara]

INVESTIGATING JUDGE DECIDED THAT IMAM ES SATTY WAS NO JIHADIST AFTER TAPPING HIS PHONE FOR A MONTH (2008)


OK Diario
https://okdiario.com/investigacion/...ripoll-yihadista-pinchar-telefono-mes-1269034




In 2008 Judge Baltasar Garzón declined to prosecute Ripoll's imam, Abdelbaki Es Satty, despite the fact that he had lived in the apartment of Lepanto de Vilanova i la Geltrú alongside the head of the Jihadist cell of Operation Jackal, Mohamed Mrabet Fhasi, and the suicide bomber Belgacem Bellil, who killed 28 people in an attack in Iraq.

The first judge of the case, Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska, ordered the tapping of the mobile phone of Mohamed Mrabet Fhasi on 19 October 2005, as there were "well-founded suspicions about his connection to the terrorist group Ansar Al Islam". Ansar Al Islam allegedly carried out the attacks of Casablanca.

Referring to the findings of a report from the Central External Information Unit of the Police, the judge pointed out that Es Satty "has numerous contacts with the circle of connections of this terrorist group, and he is able to act as an intermediary in providing logistical support for terrorist networks."

And he added that El Satty (now considered the mastermind of the Barcelona and Cambrils attacks) maintained at that time "contacts with Arab individuals who are engaged in falsifying documentation in the realm of common crime, in order to provide an outlet for the cover of terrorist elements in the Spanish and European territory."

However, a month later, on November 21, the same police unit proposed to the judge to cease this telephone interception because it had not offered "relevant information for the investigation." "We are aware of the use of telephones to make appointments and meetings on the part of this individual, but we understand that he has another telephone number, that we do not have information about."

Consequently, Grande-Marlaska ordered the cessation of the telephone tap, that had lasted for little over a month. But the name of Ripoll's last imam (whose body ended up buried under the rubble of the Alcanar house where he made explosives a week ago) soon re-appeared in the investigation.

A witness questioned by the National Police in January 2006, Omar Boudame, unambiguously pointed out to Abdelbaki Es Satty as one of the closest collaborators of Mohamed Mrabet Fhasi, the head of the jihadist cell dissolved in Operation Jackal.

Omar Boudame explained to the police that El Satty had acted as an imam at the Al Furkan mosque in Vilanova i la Geltrú (where the jihadist cell recruited suicide bombers to send them to Iraq and Afghanistan), but then left the post leaving for Morocco for a year.

On his return to Spain, the witness added, Es Satty had shared an apartment with Belgacem Bellil, who "was active in the Islamic Salvation Front and had very radical Islamic ideas." Then, during the Ramadan festival, Vilanova's mosque community learned that Bellil had traveled to Iraq to blow himself up in a suicide attack on an Italian base.

The witness placed Es Satty with other members of the jihadist cell in meetings of the Al-Furkan mosque in which "they commented that it was necessary to do Jihad in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine." Always according to the same witness, Es Satty had lived previously with the suicide bomber in Jaen.

Witness Omar Boudame placed Es Satty in the mosque's meetings where they were summoned to "do Jihad in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine".

All these data should have sparked the alarms of those responsible for the investigation. However, Judge Baltasar Garzón (who had restarted the case in 2006) ruled out the persecution of Es Satty, after receiving a report from the Information Service of the Guardia Civil.

This report confirmed that personal documentation of Es Satty had been found during the search of the apartment of Lepanto de Vilanova and Geltrú, where the chief of the jihadist terror cell resided. Worse then he added: "Although there is a direct relationship with some of the members of the dismantled cell, it has not been observed that there was any connection with the network of recruiting mujahideen."

He added in the same vein: "There was no participation of Abdelbaki Es Satty in the activities carried out, in the different commercial businesses that were developed, neither in the meetings held for both prayer and talks, nor relevant signs of participation in actitivties of ecruitment or indoctrination of supporters for the Islamist cause under investigation."

Consequently, Judge Garzón did not include Es Satty among those accused in the cause of Operation Jackal. In a trial held in 2009, a courtroom of the National Court presided over by Judge Javier Gómez Bermúdez sentenced the jihadist cell leader, Mohamed Mrabet Fhasi, to seven years' imprisonment and three other defendants.

However, the Supreme Court overturned the sentence in 2011 and acquitted all the defendants, as Mrabet's lawyer, the current deputy mayor of Barcelona City Council Jaume Asens, argued that his client had been "tortured" by the Guardia Civil and that the telephone taps in the files lacked the proper judicial authorization.


BBM



:dunno:

 

[jessie]

Abdelbaki Es Satty wasn't radicalized in prison, he was a jihadist who managed to elude the authorities. During his time in prison for drug related crimes (something a proper imam would not be doing, or am I missing something?) he lead the prayers and probably radicalized a few others.

I found more info about his life before that prison time. Will put that here later. They should have kicked that man out and never let him in again.

:maddening:

I was suggesting that perhaps Es Satty used his prison time to radicalise others, not that he himself was radicalised there
From what I read prisons seem to provide the perfect opportunity for this with the close contact of susceptible people . OMO of course. Thanks again for your updates. x

 

[dotr]

http://www.cp24.com/world/thousands...n-barcelona-following-terror-attack-1.3563025

Thousands take to the streets in Barcelona following terror attack

People stand around a memorial tribute of flowers and messages on Barcelona's historic Las Ramblas promenade at the end of a demonstration condemning the attacks that killed 15 people last week in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attacks on Aug. 17-18 in Barcelona and Cambrils that also left more than 120 injured. Eight suspects are dead and four more under investigation, two of them in jail.(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Medical authorities said Saturday that 22 people wounded in the attacks are still being treated in hospitals. Six of them remain in critical condition.

In the northeastern town of Ripoll, home for many of the attackers, members of the local Muslim community and other residents gathered Saturday in a central square to condemn the deadly attacks. Located at the foothills of the Pyrenees, the town is where most suspects came under the influence of a radical imam, investigators say.

 

[ZaZara]

http://www.cp24.com/world/thousands...n-barcelona-following-terror-attack-1.3563025

All chanting that they 'do not have fear'. No tinc por. No tinc por.
I don't really get this. I don't believe it either. IMHO it would only take some firecrackers and one shout of Allahu Akbar to cause a huge panic, with people running for their lives and others paralyzed by eeuh .... what shall we call it?... fear.

 

[ZaZara]

THE URBAN GUARD WHO SAW YOUNES BEHIND THE WHEEL: "HE WAS SCREAMING LIKE A MADMAN"

El Pais
https://elpais.com/ccaa/2017/08/25/catalunya/1503692414_725010.html



Sergi Lledó is 35 years old and has been an agent of the Urban Guard for two years. He is assigned to the police station of Ciutat Vella. On Thursday, August 17, his life changed forever. Lledó was the first police officer to see Younes Abouyaaqoub driving the van. "He screamed like a madman" while he trampled dozens of people down La Rambla. The policeman quickly realized what was going on. He pressed the radio button: "Terrorist attack. Clear the area."

The agent was assigned that day to the surveillance of the subway underground exchange, right at the exit of La Rambla. An area where agents are aware of pickpockets, looters, illegal vendors. The area of work is not static, the guards enter and leave continuously from the subsoil to the outside of the Barcelona promenade.

At 16.50, Lledó was on the outside next to the entrance of the subway of the Rambla. Some tourists were asking for information when a sharp bang from the pedestrian crossing across the iconic promenade to Pelai Street made him turn his head. "Due to the speed that the van was making on the Rambla, the wheels came off the ground. In the vehicle there was only the driver with the windows up and he was screaming."

The policeman and three of his companions began to run after the vehicle. "We shouted to people to turn away. We knew from the first moment that it was a terrorist attack," he recalls. The eyes of the Urban Guard fill with rage when he remembers the trajectory of the van: "He went zigzag looking for the stops and kiosks where people were distracted and unable to react. He wanted to cause as much damage as possible."

The four agents ran to the level of Bonsuccés Street. The van went missing down the Rambla. "We stopped sharp on the spot, without saying anything we turned around. The scene the terrorist had left was devastating." The four Urban Guards knew at once what they had to do. "We mentally made our list of priorities distinguishing between serious and less serious injuries."

The images engraved in his mind are macabre, although the agent tries to highlight the signs of solidarity. He remembers the spontaneous helpers and agents doing resuscitation tasks with "lots of blood everywhere." From the pharmacy of Bonsuccés street he got bandages and even a defibrillator. He managed to make a young woman breathe again thanks to the device, but there was no time to celebrate. As they continued to care for the victims, panic settled completely on La Rambla. "A tourist told us that he had seen an armed person inside the Istanbul restaurant. The place had closed the shutters," he recalls. There were rumours about a shooting inside the Corte Inglés store on the square of Catalonia. The intervention was complicated. While La Rambla panicked, Lledó transferred a gravely wounded minor to the pharmacy. "He died shortly afterwards, I'm convinced it was Julian Cadman, the Australian boy," he recalls.

In two years on the job, the Urban Guard had rarely drawn his pistol. That afternoon, with operatives and information that spoke of shootings, he spent hours with the weapon "stained with blood of the victims" in his hands. "None of my colleagues hesitated for a second to expose their own lives. Many were on vacation and left their families to help in an area where nobody knew if there were explosives, or snipers ... "


BBM


A simple Urban Guard, at the entrance of a major tourist trap, a pedestrian area with cars able to drive down either side. No special protection like bollards. The urban guard is keeping an eye on pickpockets, looters, illegal vendors. Answering questions from tourists.

In June, after the vehicle attacks in Nice, Berlin and several in London, the CIA warned Catalan police in a notice that Las Ramblas was at risk. Barcelona decided to remain 'an open city.'

Next, people are dead or gravely wounded and traumatized for life, while others like Sergi Lledó are risking their lives.

Ada Colau, mayor of Barcelona and responsible for keeping the Ramblas open for motorized traffic, spoke warmly of a powerful message of peace after today's demonstration.


:maddening:

 

[ZaZara]

RAMBLAS TERROR ATTACK: GERMAN WOMAN DIES IN HOSPITAL

Bild.de
http://www.bild.de/news/ausland/ter...ach-anschlaegen-katalonien-53009516.bild.html

Barcelona - A little over a week after the terror attacks, the number of deadly victims has risen to 16: A woman (51) died of her injuries on Sunday morning in a hospital. She is the first German casualty.


BBM


:rose:

 

[ZaZara]

IMAM ES SATTY HAD CONTACTS WITH ISIS IN MOROCCO

The imam of Ripoll and mastermind of the attacks in Catalonia recently travelled to his village to see a family with at least two members of the Islamic State.

El Pais
https://politica.elpais.com/politic...3853935_796820.html?id_externo_rsoc=TW_CM_ESP

On his last trip to Morocco, last July 27, Abdelbaki Es Satty went to visit the Stitou family, his neighbors of all life. The mastermind of the recent attacks in Catalonia was seen with Abderrahim, 27, brother of two ISIS combatants - one of them already dead, according to local investigators - and one of five persons detained last week by the Moroccan authorities. Saturday night he was released.

Little by little the movements of Abdelbaki es Satty are becoming known. The imam of Ripoll who clandestinely indoctrinated the nine young men who perpetrated the attacks of Barcelona and Cambrils and killed 16 people (death count until now). Belgium, France, Switzerland, Austria, Morocco ... The investigators follow in the footsteps of a man whose radicalization went unnoticed to the state security forces and bodies for years under the facade of a common criminal.

He left on July 27 and returned to Spain on August 9 last. It was his last trip to Morocco, where all his acolytes came from, and it has been proven that he had contact with some of the 1,800 ISIS fighters who have left the Alawi kingdom bound for Syria, according to Moroccan Intelligence data.

However, Abderrahim Stitou was released late Saturday. Of the five who have been arrested in Morocco over the past week for alleged links to the attacks in Catalonia, only two remain in detention. One of them was arrested in Nador on 18 August for jihadist apology and declared before the Moroccan authorities that he planned to attack the Spanish Embassy in Rabat.

Two others were detained respectively in Oujda and Casablanca on the 19th. One was allegedly "friend of one of the Oukabir brothers," according to investigation sources. And the other had been a neighbor of the material author of the mass attack on Barcelona's Las Ramblas, Younes Abouyaakoub, during the time he worked as butanero - gas bottle delivery man! - in Ripoll.

His criminal record for drugs and the lack of evidence to link him to an al Qaeda network in 2005, where he was allegedly falsifying documents to enable its members' travels around Europe, kept Es Satty camouflaged under the guise of a delinquent. He even spent four years in jail in Castellón between 2010 and 2014 for trying to enter Spain with 121 kilos of hashish from Morocco that he had loaded in his car. He was arrested in Ceuta.

The radicalization of Es Satty, who also appears on an internal police note as related to some of the 11-M terrorists, might therefore have begun in those years. Now investigators are pursuing his deadly trail. Belgium, where he raised the suspicions and where the local police of Vilvoorde consulted to the Mossos d'Esquadra in March of 2016, was one of his favorite destinations. The investigators focus their searches on his contacts - "he might receive orders from someone" - and the type of explosive, already used by jihadists in Brussels and Paris.


BBM


So Younes Abouyaakoub worked as a butanero, a gas bottle delivery man.... one wonders ....
:thinking:

121 kilos of hashish had a street value of 176.000 euro at the time. Assuming that he hadn't been caught before versus assuming that this was the one and only time that he ever did this, IMHO someone was probably making a lot of money.

 

[ZaZara]

HOW THE IMAM WAS TAUGHT TO HIDE HIS RADICALIZATION

El Pais
https://politica.elpais.com/politica/2017/08/27/actualidad/1503855550_126577.html?rel=lom

Abdelbaki Es Satty, the imam of cell of Barcelona, radicalized for at least a decade, was educated by some experienced teachers how to go unnoticed and not arouse suspicion among his faithful and the residents of Ripoll. His best teacher was Mohamed Mrabet, 48, a bearded butcher from Vilanova i la Geltrú, married to Kdadija Virginia Pood, an Englishwoman who converted to Islam. She was a woman from a noble family, educated at the University of London, cultured and refined. In 2008 she covered her head with a handkerchief and avoided shaking this journalist's hand because her beliefs forbade it.

Mrabet presided over the Al Furkan Mosque by day, and at night he led a group of al-Qaeda called Los Sin Vicio de Occidente [Those without the Vice of the West ]. The documentation of Es Satty, who pretended wanting to commit suicide in Barcelona with a belt of explosives before dying in the explosion of the house in Alcanar, appeared in the domicile of this Moroccan butcher who for years and in total impunity sent a long rosary of volunteers who passed by his house to their deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some achieved their goal. Like Belgacem Bellil, 31, an Algerian who sat behind the wheel of a bomb truck and killed 28 people in Nasiriya, including 19 Italian soldiers. Others returned wounded, such as Turkish Saffet Karakoc, 40. Those frustrated were Hassan Mordoude, 41, and Ahmed Said Hssisni, 42, who were arrested in Syria and expelled to Morocco. They all travelled towards death with a white postcard the size of a tablet explaining how to join the jihad: When you land in Damascus take a taxi and tell him to take you to the area of Al-Mayra...".

After their return to Spain, the frustrated volunteers Mordoude and Hssisni appeared linked to the Moroccan Islamic Fighting Group, a group linked to al-Qaeda, which in 2003 played a leading role in the Casablanca attacks. And along with them, the name of the imam Es Satty emerged as a suspect. Police tapped his phone for several months in 2005 with permission from the judge of the National High Court, Fernando Grande-Marlaska. "We found nothing relevant and the wiretaps were cancelled. If not, we would have arrested him," a senior police officer says.

The police investigated the cell that numbered at least 22 people and listened attentively to their conversations. In the search of the butcher's house, after his arrest, the officers discovered a document entitled Illegal Jihad is a legitimate duty. The 30-page safety manual written in Arabic was unveiled by EL PAÍS in 2008 and describes the guidelines that a good jihadist must follow in order not to be discovered in Western society.

Reading his recommendations shows that Es Satty, then a disciple of that group and already radicalized, followed many of these to the letter, which served to mislead the intelligence and information services that had already looked at him and investigated him. The imam was on the police radar, but made no mistake that led to his arrest. To have a relationship with the people in that group was not enough [ proof ] for us or for the Guardia Civil," a head of the General Information Office points uot.

The phrases of the safety manual found in Vilanova i la Geltrú follow the Takfir Wal Hijra (Anatema and Exile) movement to the letter. Years later the imam would immerse the obedient acolytes of his cell in these rules.

"All that is forbidden for a good Muslim is allowed in favor of concealment and clandestinity. A tactic that allowed the members of the group created by the imam to go unnoticed. The clandestine nature of jihad is a legitimate duty, in the name of merciful and gracious God. Secrecy is a key factor in any war. It is a mistake to deny its use for jihad because the unfaithful rulers recruit thousands of intelligence agents to obtain information from the Muyahideen. He who says that there is no secrecy in Islamic operations contradicts the Sunna of the prophet," the first article reads. The second is even clearer:"The Muslim has to imitate the unbelievers in their way of dressing if it is to the benefit of Islam. Like the Jews who inhabited the Arabian peninsula in the time of the prophet."

For the author of the manual that Es Satty followed, the worst enemy of the illegality is routine. Lies and disguise are allowed if the unbelievers are to be punished. "Remember that you can lie!.... You have to change the way you dress, your haircut, place of residence, cars, daily routes, meetings, get-togethers.

Similar guidelines to those adopted by the imam of Ripoll, who in his picture on his identity card and passport always avoided the beard, another mandatory requirement that appears on the document.

The testimony of one of the detainees before the judge of the National High Court Fernando Andreu, reveals that the young people of the cell used keywords or silly codes (so named by the intelligence services) when they contacted the imam to avoid detection. No one found out that for a year they were meeting in a minivan.

No doubt, Es Satty was the mastermind of the group. The appearance of a single belt of explosives reserved for him demonstrates his status as the emir (head) of the cell. "This man had been determined to make a major attack and go down in history for a long time. His first contact with the Vilanova cell and his relationship with several volunteers who tried to join the jihad in Iraq shows that he had been in this orbit for many years. His trip to Vilvoorne [the cradle of jihadists in Belgium] also endorses this. He was slow in finding this group of young people and fulfil his personal dream," according to one of the world's leading police experts in the fight against jihadism.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

THE PERPETRATORS OF THE CAMBRILS ATTACK WERE IN FRONT OF THE EIFFEL TOWER TWICE DURING THEIR SHORT STAY IN PARIS

7sur7.be
http://www.7sur7.be/7s7/fr/1505/Mon...ls-se-sont-rendus-devant-la-Tour-Eiffel.dhtml


Less than a week before committing the crime, the perpetrators of the attack on Cambrils in Spain, who killed one person and wounded six others during the night of 17 to 18 August, visited the Eiffel Tower in Paris twice, the French Interior Minister said on Thursday.

"We know that they went to buy this camera, we especially know that they leave their hotel in the evening, that they go to the Eiffel Tower for a long time and then return the next day before leaving for Spain," thanks to the study of the cellphone demarcation, Gérard Collomb said on the radio station franceinfo.

Investigations are under way to determine why the perpetrators of the attack on Cambrils were in the Paris region on 11 and 12 August, less than a week before the attacks on 17 and 18 August in Catalonia, which claimed the lives of 15 people.

They were "presumably two or three people" on board the car used during the attack on Cambrils and flashed in the Essonne department, south of Paris, on 12 August.

They stayed in a hotel in Malakoff, near Paris, and "went to a number of places", said Paris prosecutor François Molins on 23 August, without wanting to give more details.

Any links to explosives discovered in Villejuif?
Asked about possible links with the discovery of TATP in a clandestine explosives laboratory in Villejuif, near Paris, on Wednesday, Mr. Collomb replied:"We know that Spain is a place of passage for the transport networks that would go up from Morocco, it is possible that there are links, but frankly I don't know more".

BBM

 

[ZaZara]

THE BARCELONA TERRORIST FILMED AFTER THE ATTACK WITH THE VAN

El Pais
https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/09/13/videos/1505288716_532511.html?id_externo_rsoc=TW_CM

Just a few minutes after the attack, the terrorist who killed dozens of people is calmly walking away from the scene. In the video (from 45 seconds on), you can even hear him speaking. A woman asks him "what's going on?" and he says,"I don't know, whatever it is, is happening over there."

He seems to be carrying something hidden under his arm. He's wearing a striped polo shirt and wearing sunglasses. He has only just abandoned the van at 250 meters.

The attack left dozens of bodies lifeless in the street and provoked scenes of panic. Fourteen people were killed and more than 100 injured in La Rambla.


BBM


The woman who made the video is an irresponsible idiot. Everybody is walking away hastily from whatever it may be and she goes on and on, in the direction of the danger. If Younes had carried a gun, if the van had been loaded with bombs that might have been the end of her. But no, her problem is that she needs to know, or so she thinks. And on she goes with her what's happening :whine: :whine:

Meanwhile, the value of the video is in the few seconds that show the jihadist. He is about 3 minutes away from his van, he is cool and collected. It was said that he was screaming behind the wheel while he drove into the Ramblas. Nothing, nothing at all points to frenzy in the video. This guy is so calm, he even has time to answer the woman, and it almost sounds as if he is laughing. It is hard to believe that he was massacring people on a sunny street minutes ago, and that is probably the scariest thing about it all.

 

[jessie]

Thanks ZaZara for that video.

Anyone else notice that the only member of the public that responded to "What's happened" was the jihadist ?? !!

Other members of the public couldn't have been aware exactly what had occurred at that time, looks like they were leaving the market in confusion by the rear entrance.