Warning - graphic content. A video from the scene of the Barcelona attack shows the horrific aftermath.
By Hannah Strange, James Badcock
Police in Catalonia have shot dead Younes Abouyaaqoub, the probable driver of the van that killed 13 people on Barcelona's Las Ramblas last week. He is believed to be the last remaining fugitive from the terrorist cell.
The 22-year-old Moroccan was wearing a explosives beltwhen he was shot, Telegraph UK reports.
Mossos, the region's police force, tweeted: "Confirm that the man shot dead in #subirats is Younes Abouyaaqoub, author of the terrorist attack in #barcelona".
17:23 TEDAX police officers (bomb tech) are using a robot to make an approach and check the scene
A bomb-disposal robot was sent to the shooting before police were able to approach Abouyaaqoub's body. It was later reported that the belt was a fake.
The manhunt zeroed in to Subirats, an hour's drive west of Barcelona. High in the hills and surrounded by vineyards, it is a bucolic location that few would imagine as the scene of a terrorist showdown.
A woman called police on Monday afternoon saying a suspicious man was in the area.
The public had been warned he was dangerous and could be armed, and it was feared he could have escaped across the border into France.
A suspect believed to be Younes Abouyaaqoubis is captured by a security camera walking through La Boqueria market seconds after a van crashed into pedestrians in Barcelona. Photo / AP
A suspect believed to be Younes Abouyaaqoub is is captured by a security camera walking through La Boqueria market seconds after a van crashed into pedestrians in Barcelona. Photo / AP
After Monday afternoon's shooting, police wearing balaclavas drove unmarked vehicles away from the scene.
Police said their operation on a winding road between two vineyards was ongoing as they were trying to determine if others were involved in the devastating twin attacks that claimed 15 lives last week.
Roser Ventura, who works at a nearby vineyard, told AFP she saw about 20 police cars drive by with sirens wailing while helicopters rattled overhead. She heard the news about the shot man on the radio.
Police bomb squad officers work by a road near Subirats, Spain. Photo / AP
Armed policemen walk on a road near Subirats, Spain, during an operation. Photo / AP
Arnau Gomez, who lives about a kilometre away from where the suspect was shot, described the village of 300 people as being an ideal hideout as "it is far from everything".
Police, who have been hunting for Abouyaaqoub since last Thursday's attack, said earlier on Monday that he had killed another man while stealing a car to make his escape after the attack on Las Ramblas boulevard.
As the manhunt was launched following the attack, Joaquin Form, the Catalan regional interior secretary, told local radio that "everything indicates" that Abouyaaqoub, a 22-year-old Moroccan and resident of the northern town of Ripoll, was the van driver.
Handout photos made available by Spanish Police showing Younes Abauyaaqoub. Photos / AP
Maria Rosell i Medall, the mayor of Sant Sadurni, said the situation was now under control, but that police were investigating every call they had received from residents to establish what had brought Abouyaaqoub to the area and whether he might have had local help.
She said Sant Sadurni had always been "a safe and peaceful place" and there had never been any indication to suggest any terrorist activity in the area. Police had been patrolling the area since the attacks, she said, and swung into action when they received the resident's call Monday afternoon.
Early CCTV images emerged appearing to show Abouyaaqoub escaping on foot through Barcelona's La Boqueria market following Thursday afternoon's attack.
After the attack, security forces launched a major operation in the north of Catalonia and in particular along the French border. Form said there was no evidence that Abouyaaqoub had left the region, but said authorities were coordinating with other governments as the fugitive was being sought "in all European countries".
