Second of four men arrested over Catalonia attacks released

A Spanish High Court judge on Thursday ordered another one of the four suspects arrested over twin attacks in Catalonia last week, Salh El Karib, to be freed on certain conditions, according to a court source.

El Karib, the manager of an internet cafe in Ripoll, a town in northern Catalonia where many of the alleged attackers of the 12-strong came from, will have to show up at a local court every week and is banned from leaving Spain, the court said.

The judge decided that there was not enough evidence to keep El Karib in custody, the court source said.

Investigating judge Fernando Andreu had originally asked for him to remain in police custody pending further investigation of his possible role in the attacks, which killed 15 people in Barcelona and the coastal resort of Cambrils.

Another man arrested over the attacks, Mohamed Aalla, was also released on certain conditions earlier this week while two others were remanded on charges of membership of a terrorist group and murder.        

Attacks in Catalonia

Spain's northeastern region of Catalonia was hit last week by two attacks which killed 15 people. 

A van ploughed into crowds of holidaymakers and local residents on Barcelona's crowded Las Ramblas boulevard last Thursday, killing 13 people. Two others were killed during the driver's getaway and in a separate attack in Cambrils.

Two men remain detained, and the rest of the 12-member cell have been killed, either by police or in an explosion believed to have been accidentally detonated by the suspects themselves in their bomb factory in the seaside town of Alcanar.

Daesh, which claimed responsibility for the attacks in Catalonia, issued a video via one of its official channels on Wednesday showing two of its fighters making threats in Spanish against Spain, interspersed with images of the aftermath of the Barcelona attack.