UPDATE 1 – Barcelona terror attack suspect shot dead by police

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By BNO NEWS

The man who carried out last week’s terrorist attack in the Spanish city of Barcelona has been shot dead by police, local officials say. He was killed after police encountered him with fake explosives on his body.

The incident began just after 4 p.m. local time on Monday when Catalonia police were called to a report of a suspicious person in the town of Subirats in Alt Penedès, which is about 31 kilometers (19 miles) west of Barcelona.

“The suspicious person has attached to his body what looks like a belt of explosives,” Catalonia regional police said on its official Twitter account. It added that the suspect had been shot dead by police officers.

Police later confirmed that the man had been identified as 22-year-old Younes Abouyaaqoub, the fugitive from last week’s terrorist attack in Barcelona. The explosives belt which was attached to his body was examined by the bomb squad and determined to be fake.

It came just hours after Spanish police announced that a Europe-wide manhunt was underway to find Abouyaaqoub, who is believed to have been behind the wheel as a van plowed into people in Barcelona, killing 13 people and injuring more than 100 others. Abouyaaqoub then fled the scene and hijacked a car, whose driver was later found stabbed to death.

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