The driver of the van that ploughed into crowds in Barcelona, killing 14 people, was one of five men shot dead by police in a Catalan seaside resort hours later, Spanish newspapers reported yesterday.
Josep Lluis Trapero, police chief in Spain’s northeastern region of Catalonia, had said earlier that it was possible, but not confirmed, that the driver was among those killed.
The driver abandoned the van and fled on Thursday after speeding along a pedestrianised section of Las Ramblas, the most famous boulevard in Barcelona, leaving a trail of dead and injured among the crowds of tourists and local residents thronging the street.
It was the latest of a string of attacks across Europe in the past 13 months in which militants have used vehicles as weapons - a crude but deadly tactic that is near-impossible to prevent and has now killed nearly 130 people in France, Germany, Britain, Sweden and Spain.
Suspected militants have been behind the previous attacks.
Islamic State said the perpetrators of the latest one had been responding to its call to target countries involved in a US-led coalition against the militant group.