Barcelona Las Ramblas Terrorist Attack

Описание: A VAN has ploughed into a crowd of people in Barcelona, leaving two feared dead and many injured.
Two armed men are also believed to have stormed Luna de Istanbul restaurant after police said the driver had fled the initial scene.
Local television is reporting hostages have been held in the Turkish restaurant.
Gunshots have abeen reported near the food market of La Boqueria, which is a major tourist attraction.
Police said they are treating the incident as a terror attack. They earlier described the incident as a "massive crash".
Witnesses said a white van driven by a man mounted the pavement before crashing into pedestrians. The driver then fled the scene.
People have been urged to avoid the area, with crowds now shuttered inside shops in the area for their own safety
More than 20 people are believed to have been injured, many seriously, according to Barcelona police on Twitter. Two people are believed to have been killed.
Witnesses said a group were struck while crossing the street.
The incident has occured at La Rambla de Catalunya, which has now been evacuated.
The area is popular with tourists and is located in the heart of the Spanish city.
Aamer Anwar was walking down Las Ramblas at the time, which he said was "jam-packed" with tourists visiting Spain.
He said: "All of a sudden, I just sort of heard a crashing noise and the whole street just started to run, screaming. I saw a woman right next to me screaming for her kids.
"Police were very, very quickly there, police officers with guns, batons, everywhere. Then the whole street started getting pushed back."
One of the shopkeepers tried to speak to him. He said he saw five or six people seriously injured on the ground, a van had driven into people.
"And literally within probably 30 seconds, police vans, ambulances, police officers with guns, were piling out and we were being sectioned off and then being pushed rapidly back down Ramblas."
Witness Ethan Spibey said: "All of sudden it was real chaos. People just started running screaming, there were loud bangs. People just started running into shops, there was a kind of mini-stampede where we were, down one of the alleyways."
He said he had taken refuge with dozens of other people in a nearby church.
He added: "They've locked the doors because I'm not sure whether the person who may have done it has actually been caught, so they've locked the doors and told people just to wait in here."
He added people have taken refuge in shops and cafes.
Barcelona resident Esther Balboa told Express.co.uk: “The police are telling everyone to keep away from the area and several metro stations have been closed. They haven’t captured anyone yet. It’s an area very popular with tourists. It’s all really shocking.”
Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy is in contact with the authorities. He said the priority is to attend to the injured.
Catalan emergency services have asked to close metro and train stations in the area.
Authorities have called for calm and urged people to let relatives and friends know if they are okay. Carles Puigdemont, the president of the Catalan parliament, said: "All focus is to the victims in the events of this afternoon in Barcelona. The coordinated police operation has been expanded."
Simon Manley, British ambassador to Spain, tweeted: "We are in contact with the authorities and seeking further information following the incident in Barcelona."
The incident began at around 5.05pm local time (4.05pm BST).
The incident took place at the height of the tourist season in Barcelona, which is one of Europe's top travel destinations with at least 11 million visitors a year.
While full details of the van incident were not immediately clear, vehicles have been used to ram into crowds in a series of terror attacks across Europe since July 2016, killing more than 100 people in Nice, Berlin, London and Stockholm.