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Four Spain attack suspects in court for questioning

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Madrid: Four alleged members of a terror cell were in a Madrid court on Tuesday, facing possible charges related to the twin attacks in Catalonia that claimed 15 lives and wounded more than 100 people.


Spanish police shot dead Barcelona terror suspect Younes Abouyaaqoub on Monday in a dramatic end to the manhunt for the Moroccan national.


The Moroccan was the last fugitive member of a 12-man cell suspected of plotting last week’s vehicle attacks in Barcelona and the seaside resort of Cambrils.


Besides the four men detained, the rest were killed, either by police or in an explosion believed to have been accidentally detonated by the suspects themselves in their bomb factory at the seaside town of Alcanar.


Among those killed in the explosion was a Moroccan imam at the heart of the cell, Abdelbaki Es Satty, Catalan police chief Josep Lluis Trapero confirmed.


While Spanish police say the cell has been dismantled, investigators are trying to determine if it had logistical or other forms of support from other individuals.


Questions are also arising about the group’s possible international connections. In Belgium, the mayor of the Vilvorde region said that Satty spent time in the Brussels suburb of Machelen — next to the city’s airport — between January and March 2016.


On the other side of Brussels, the Molenbeek suburb has gained notoriety as a hotbed of international extremists after the Brussels bombings in March 2016 and the Paris attacks in November 2015.


And in France, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told BFMTV that the Audi A3 used to mow down people in Cambrils had been detected by speed cameras in the Paris region while making “a very rapid return trip” days before the Barcelona attack.


Collomb is due to host his Spanish counterpart Juan Ignacio Zoido on Wednesday for talks due to include anti-terrorism cooperation.


At least one of the suspects also spent a night in Zurich last December, said Swiss police, adding that it was too early to speculate about any connections with Switzerland.


On Tuesday under heavy security, police vans carrying the suspects entered the National Court, which deals with terrorism cases, where a judge will decide what — if any — charges to press against the four men who allegedly formed part of the cell. — AFP


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