Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
The four suspects AP / Press Association Images
AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
A SUSPECTED MEMBER of the terror cell that unleashed carnage in Spain last week admitted to a judge that the jihadists had planned to hit monuments in an even bigger attack.
Mohamed Houli Chemlal, 21, said he knew of the plans two months ago. He and three other suspects were in court in Madrid yesterday, their first appearance since twin attacks killed 15 people and wounded more than 100.
The four are the only surviving suspects from what was believed to be a 12-man terror cell that rammed a van into pedestrians on tourist-packed boulevard Las Ramblas in Barcelona on Thursday. Hours later, members of the group committed a similar attack in Cambrils, further south.
After a full day’s hearing before the judge, Chemlal and another suspect, Driss Oukabir, 27, were remanded in custody and charged with terror-related offences.
However, the third man who owns the car used in the Cambrils attack, Mohamed Aallaa, was granted conditional release, with the judge saying evidence against him was weak.
The judge gave himself three more days to decide if the fourth suspect, Salh El Karib — who manages a shop that allows people to make calls abroad — should be remanded or released from custody. Searches of his business were ordered late yesterday.
The judge did not follow the request of the prosecutor, who said all four should be charged with terror-related offences and detained.
Chemlal, a Spaniard, told the judge the cell was planning “an attack on an even greater scale, targeting monuments” using bombs, a judicial source told AFP.
He had known of the plans for an attack “at least two months ago”, he added.
‘Imam wanted to blow himself up’
Chemlal, dressed in hospital pyjamas and with his right hand bandaged, was brought in after a doctor said he was fit for interrogation, a court spokesman told AFP.
He was injured in an accidental explosion at the group’s makeshift bomb factory on Wednesday evening. One of those killed in the blast was an imam, Abdelbaki Es Satty, who is thought to have radicalised him and other young suspects.
Chemlal only survived because he was out on the porch when the blast occurred.
He told the judge the imam had wanted to blow himself up. The judicial source said that among the four suspects, “two blamed the imam for the plot while another two denied knowing him”.
Earlier, police had revealed that the suspected jihadists had been preparing bombs for “one or more attacks in Barcelona”.
Details on their plans were outlined in the 14-page ruling issued following Tuesday’s preliminary hearing.
Police clearing the rubble in Alcanar found “a large quantity of butane gas canisters, acetone, oxygenated water, bicarbonate, a large quantity of nails … and detonators to spark the explosion”, the court papers said.
Advertisement
A policeman hugs a family he helped during the terrorist attack, at a memorial to the victims on Las Ramblas on Monday Santi Palacios / AP/Press Association Images
Santi Palacios / AP/Press Association Images / AP/Press Association Images
These are among key ingredients of TATP — the explosive of choice of the so-called Islamic State group, which has claimed responsibility the attacks.
In the rubble, police also found a sheet of paper slipped into a green-coloured book, which said: “A brief letter from the soldiers of the Islamic State on the territory of Al Andalous to the crusaders, the sinners, the unjust and the corrupters.”
Al Andalous is the name of the territories governed until 1492 by Muslims better known as Moors.
Plan B
The accidental explosion in their bomb factory — a house in Alcanar, south of Barcelona — forced the suspects to alter their plans.
After losing their bombs and two of their members in the blast in Alcanar, the jihadists decided the next day to rent a van. However, they once again suffered a false start as its driver was involved in an accident not far from Cambrils.
A second van rented by Driss Oukabir was used two hours later in the Barcelona rampage. In court on yesterday, Oukabir admitted renting the van but said he did so for moving purposes.
Aallaa, who was freed conditionally, is the owner of the Audi used in Cambrils. He said it was registered under his name for insurance reasons but that his brother Said, 19, used it.
The court hearing came five days after the attacks.
Spanish police shot dead Younes Abouyaaqoub on Monday. He was the suspected Barcelona van driver, the last fugitive member of the cell.
While Catalan police say the cell has been dismantled, investigators are trying to determine if it had support from other individuals. Questions are also arising about the group’s possible international connections.
Audi in Paris, imam in Belgium
In Belgium, the mayor of the Vilvorde region told AFP that Satty spent time in the Brussels suburb of Machelen — next to the city’s airport — between January and March 2016.
And in France, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told BFMTV the Audi used to kill people in Cambrils had been detected by speed cameras in the Paris region while making “a very rapid return trip” days before the Spanish attacks.
Collomb is due to host Spanish counterpart Juan Ignacio Zoido today for talks set to include anti-terrorism cooperation.
At least one of the suspects also spent a night in Zurich in December, according to Swiss police.
Sinn Féin says Verona Murphy has until end of the week to resign or face a no confidence motion
Updated
9 mins ago
34.7k
78
Drug smuggling
Multiple arrests made in operation targetting transport of drugs from Spain to Ireland
2 hrs ago
4.9k
speaking time row
Michael Lowry says he was telling Paul Murphy 'to sit down with my fingers'
25 Mar
60.1k
115
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 160 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 110 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 142 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 112 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 38 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 34 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 133 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 59 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 74 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 37 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 46 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 27 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 92 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 99 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 72 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 53 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 88 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 69 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say