Police rule out terrorist motives from Barcelona airport incident

Police rule out terrorist motives from Barcelona airport incident

Arrested Albanians were 'yelling Islamist-type' slogans when they rammed a car into the terminal.

Regional police check the grey car inside the airport terminal with the aid of a dog. (Mossos d’Esquadra pic)
BARCELONA:
Spanish regional police said two Albanian men arrested after ramming a car into a Barcelona airport terminal early on Friday, yelling “Islamist-type” slogans, did not have terrorist motives.

“Ruled out terrorism motive in the early-morning events at El Prat airport,” Catalan regional police said on their official Twitter account, without giving further details.

No one was injured in the incident, and police said there were no explosives in the Albanians’ car.

Barcelona’s airport was nearly empty, like those across Spain, because of a partial lockdown imposed to fight the coronavirus epidemic.

In August 2017, Islamist militants used a van to hit pedestrians in central Barcelona and carried out a follow-up attack in a nearby city, killing 16 people.

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