Suspect may have crossed French border, say Police

Catalonia Police Chief Josep Luis Trapero told reporters Sunday that while the country's border with France had been reinforced, the suspect remained at large and could have eluded authorities.

Speaking three days after a van plowed into pedestrians on Las Ramblas in the heart of Barcelona, killing 13 and injuring 120, Trapero said the search for Younes Abouyaaqoub was ongoing.

"If we knew that he was in Spain and where, we would go after him," Trapero said. "We don't know where he is."

Spanish media say Abouyaaqoub is a 22-year-old Moroccan national.

Trapero said police believe there was only one person inside the van that carried out the attack Thursday, though they are yet to confirm that person was Abouyaaqoub.

He also said 12 terror suspects linked to the Barcelona attack did not have previous records or intelligence files related to terrorism.

The news from police came hours after hundreds gathered at Barcelona's famous Sagrada Familia in Barcelona to mourn those killed. King Felipe and Queen Letizia were among those who prayed for the 14 people killed in Barcelona and Cambrils.

The attack in Cambrils took place on Friday morning, when five attackers wearing fake suicide belts drove into pedestrians — killing one and injuring six. Police shot all five assailants dead but said late Friday it was "increasingly unlikely" that the Barcelona driver was among them, Reuters reported.

On Saturday, a Catalan police spokesman identified three of the five suspects killed in Cambrils as Moussa Oukabir, Said Aallaa and Mohamed Hychami. The terror cell involved in the attacks — believed to number about 12 members — has been "completely dismantled," Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoida said Saturday.

Eight of the 12 lived in Ripoll, a city north of Barcelona. Three were arrested, and one was Oukabir — one of the dead suspects.

Another arrest was made in the village of Alcanar. CNN reporters went to Oukabir's apartment in Ripoll. A neighbor, Raimon Garcia, said Oukabir was one of four siblings — two brothers and two sisters.

Oukabir's brother, Driss, was among those arrested. He turned himself into police when his identification was found in the Barcelona van, telling authorities he wasn't involved in the attack.

A man who claimed to be a cousin of the brothers said Moussa Oukabir was "brainwashed."

A woman who lives next to a mosque in the neighborhood told CNN that she had witnessed the Oukabir brothers attending the place of worship "every day for many years."

The ruins of the house in Alcanar, a quiet beach town about 125 miles (201 kilometers) south of Barcelona, may hold the key to unraveling the plans and methods of the terror cell.

Police said Sunday that the group inside the house had been planning for "one or more" attacks on Barcelona. The remains of two people have been found on the site so far, police said.

Authorities suspect the property was being used as a base to make explosives that could have caused even more devastating attacks in Barcelona, Cambrils and possibly elsewhere had they not blown up prematurely. Explosives experts brought in a bulldozer Saturday to clear rubble before conducting a number of controlled explosions at the site in Alcanar's Montecarlo area.

Wednesday's explosion meant the attackers were unable to use material they were planning to deploy in the attacks, Trapero said Friday.

The attack in Barcelona, capital of the Spanish region of Catalonia, was therefore "more rudimentary than they originally planned,"

Trapero said.

Trapero said the suspects in Alcanar had been trying to "make explosives out of butane gas among other things." A source briefed on the investigation said a preliminary assessment indicated there were traces of the powerful explosive TATP in the rubble.

TATP is made by adding an acid to a mixture of acetone and hydrogen peroxide solution and can easily result in accidental detonation if mistakes occur in the preparation.

Meanwhile, the missing seven-year-old British-Australian boy Julian Cadman was among the 13 people killed in the Barcelona terror attack, his family have confirmed.

The Spanish missing persons bureau said his family had confirmed that the boy died after a van crashed into pedestrians on Las Ramblas on Thursday.

In a statement, it said: "Julian Cadman's family has told us he is unfortunately one of the victims of the attack and has asked us to thank all the people who have spread the news.

"In these very unjust, hard and painful moments, we accompany Julian's family and friends. Rest in peace.

"Once again we wish to reiterate our appreciation and involvement in your search."

In the immediate aftermath of the attack it was unclear what had happened to Julian, who had dual British-Australian nationality.

Barcelona: A 12-strong terror cell that carried out two attacks in Spain this week had collected 120 gas canisters and was planning to use them in vehicle attacks, Spanish police say.

Canisters were found at a house said to be used by the cell that blew up in the town of Alcanar on Wednesday night. Police are still hunting for the driver of the van that hit dozens of people on Barcelona's Las Ramblas, killing 13. On Sunday, a Mass was held in Barcelona to mourn the victims. In addition to the 13 killed on Thursday afternoon on Las Ramblas, a woman died in a second vehicle attack early on Friday in the town of Cambrils. Five suspected jihadists were shot dead by police in the second attack.

Catalan police chief Josep Lluis Trapero has given an update on the investigation. He said the cell was still believed to consist of 12 men and had been planning attacks for more than six months. One person remained at large, four were under arrest and there were two sets of human remains to be identified, he added. The person at large was the driver of the van, Trapero said, adding that police knew his identity but would not reveal it. But police have confirmed they are hunting Moroccan-born Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, who Spanish media say was the driver. The two sets of remains to be identified may refer to victims of the house explosion at Alcanar.