2017 Barcelona Attacks

Submission 10,270

Overview

The 2017 Barcelona Attacks refer to a series of terror attacks that occurred in late August 2017 when 16 people were killed and upwards of 100 were injured.

Background

On August 16th, 2017, an explosion occurred at a house in Alcanar, Spain, killing one woman and injured six other people. The following day, a white Fiat Talento van crashed into a large group of pedestrians on La Rambla street in Barcelona. Following the attack, a suspect stabbed a civilian to death while fleeing the scene with another suspect. On August 18th, an Audi A3 car drove into a crowd of pedestrians in Cambrils, killing one civilian and injuring six others. Police subsequently shot and killed five suspected terrorists who exited the vehicle.

Developments

ISIS Response

Following the vehicle attack in Barcelona, ISIS claimed responsibility claimed responsibility via the Amaq News Agency.^[1]

Suspects

Police detained four people in connection with the attack in Cambrils and announced they believed the incident was related to both the Barcelona car attack and the explosion in Alcanar.^[1]

Online Reactions

On August 17th, posts about the Barcelona attack reached the front page of the /r/worldnews^[2] and /r/news^[3] subreddits.

Donald Trump's Response

On August 17th, United States president Donald Trump posted a tweet condemning the attack (shown below).^[5]

Shortly after, Trump encouraged Twitter followers to "study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught", claiming "there was no more Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years!" (shown below).^[6]

That day, The Washington Post^[4] reported that Trump was referred to rumors that Pershing had dipped bullets in pigs' blood used to execute jihadists in the Philipines, noting that several fact-checkers had determined the rumors were unsubstantiated.