Kurdistan strongly condemns Barcelona attack

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) - The president of Kurdistan Region and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in separate statements condemned yesterday's attack in Spain which killed 13 and injured a hundred civilians.

“The people of Kurdistan, who are victims of terror themselves and are at the forefront of the fight against terror, are sympathetic to the city of Barcelona,” President Masoud Barzani said in a statement.

Echoing the President's statement about the Kurdish fight against terror, the KRG extended condolences to the victims of the attack.

"To prevent such atrocities from reoccurring, the international community needs to increase action and cooperation," the KRG statement read.

The assault happened at around 5:00 p.m. local time, when a van plowed into a crowded shopping area in Las Ramblas, Barcelona.

Hours after Las Ramblas attack, the seaside town of Cambrils was hit by a second vehicle, leaving one dead and six wounded.

After the incident, the Islamic State (IS) militant group took responsibility for the violence through their Amaq news outlet.

“The executors of the Barcelona attack were soldiers of [IS],” the announcement read, without providing any further details about those involved.

The incident in the northeastern Catalan city was Spain’s deadliest attack since 2004 when al-Qaeda-inspired bombers killed 192 people in coordinated attacks in Madrid.

Spanish police described the event as a “terrorist attack.”

The Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia reported late on Friday afternoon that the police were hunting for four suspects.

It named them as 17-year-old Moussa Oukabir - the suspect thought to have driven the van along Las Ramblas - Mohamed Hychami, 24, Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, and Said Aallaa, 18.

All live in or close to the Catalonian town of Ripoll. Oukabir’s age has also been given elsewhere as 18.

The attack took place during Barcelona’s tourist season, a time when at least 11 million people visit the city every year.

Editing by G.H. Renaud