Rotimi Morgan/
The terrorist who killed 13 people when he deliberately rammed a van into pedestrians in Barcelona has been shot dead.
He was killed at a vineyard, 28 miles west of Ras Ramblas, in a dramatic showdown with police.
Younes Abouyaaqoub, a 22-year-old Moroccan national, became Europe’s most wanted man after he ploughed a van into pedestrians on Thursday.
He escaped the scene on foot before hi-jacking a car, stabbing its driver to death and ramming into a police blockade near Sant Just Desvern, outside Barcelona.
He spent four days in hiding before being spotted today by a Catalan vineyard owner in the town of Subirats.
The daughter of the vineyard owner said her father alerted police after they saw a car crossing their property at high speed even though the vineyard was closed off.
Roser Venura says police told them to immediately leave the Ventura Soler cava vineyard, located between the towns of Sadurni d’Anoia and Subirats. She says “we heard a helicopter flying around and many police cars coming toward the gas station” near the property.
Others said they believed Abouyaaquob had been recognised by staff or customers when he stopped to refuel his at an Amoco filling station near an industrial area.
A local resident who only gave her name as Nuria, 23, said: “I think he was seen at the petrol station and someone called the police. I heard he was in a car.”
Armed units were scrambled before confronting Abouyaaquob who was wearing what appeared to be a suicide vest. He died in a hail of bullets while yelling “Allahu Akbar” – meaning “God is greatest” in Arabic.
Nuria added: “There have been a lot more police around here than normal since the attack in Barcelona and officers quickly came. This is a nice, quite peaceful area. I can’t believe something like this has happened.”
Abouyaaqoub’s death brings to an end the worst terror attack in Spain in 13 years, as all of his co-conspirators are either dead or in detention.
Police confirmed on Monday that Abdelbaki Es Satty, the radical imam who engineered the plot, was killed in an explosion at a suspected bomb-making factory in Alcanar before the Barcelona attack.
It was thought that an accomplice of Abouyaaquob could still have been on the run in Subirats after helping him to hide, but police now say he was acting alone.