Spain attacks: Police identify remains of two bodies found in terror house where explosion happened

Police in Spain have identified the remains of two bodies at the house where an explosion linked to the Barcelona terror attacks took place.

The house, in the town of Alcanar two hours drive south of Barcelona, exploded on Wednesday night hours before a terrorist in a van killed 13 people at La Rambla in the nearby city on Thursday.

Catalan police, referred to locally as Els Mossos d'Esquadra, believe the house may have been accidentally blown up by the terror cell linked to the attacks in Catalonia this week while it was preparing explosives for a more sophisticated planned attack.

The loss of the gas canister explosives – which could have been for building a truck bomb – and the deaths of two of the cell members there, may have prompted the more low-tech but deadly attack carried out on La Rambla with a van, investigators theorise.

"They maintained the desire to do harm, but not as expected," Josep Lluís Trapero, the commander of Els Mossos said.

The Catalan police told reporters on Sunday that one of the two killed in Wednesday's blast at the bomb factory was identified as a former immam, Abdelbaki es Satty, who was possibly a spiritual ringleader of the group.

One man, Mohamed Houli Chemlal, was also detained in the aftermath of the explosion.

Els Mossos believe the cell wanted to fill three vans with explosives to launch coordinated attacks before their plans were disrupted.

Police say that of the 12-member cell that are thought to have used the house as a makeshift base, five were shot dead at Friday’s attempted knife attack in Cambrils, four have been arrested, and the remains of two were found in the house.

The final alleged member, 22-year-old Moroccan national Younes Abouyaaqoub, is the subject of a manhunt and his whereabouts are currently unknown.

There is confusion about which member of the cell drove the van in the La Rambla attack before escaping on foot. 17-year old Moussa Oukabir, who was one of those later shot at Cambrils, was originally identified in Spanish media as the driver, but police have since cooled on this theory.

Police examining the Alcanar house arrested two Spanish journalists this weekend after they broke the official cordon and tried to gain access to the property, Spain's EFE news agency reports. Three Italian journalists who were also present on the scene were not detained because they did not try to breach the cordon, it was reported.

On Sunday, a Mass was held in Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia church to mourn the victims. The service was attended by the country’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia.

Some Spanish media reports have suggested that the unique unfinished building, a UNESCO world heritage site, designed by architect Antoni Gaudí, was to be the target of one of the botched truck bombs.

Barcelona's chief rabbi Meir Bar-Hen also hit the headlines today after he urged Jews to move to Israel because "Europe is lost" to radical Islam.

In 2007 the US embassy in Madrid said that “Spanish and US authorities have identified Catalonia as a major Mediterranean centre of radical Islamist activity”, describing activity in the area as “a rising threat”, according to a cable leaked in 2010.

The attack on La Rambla injured 120 people and claimed the lives of at least 13. Another woman was killed at the follow-up attack in nearby Cambrils on Friday, bringing the total number of victims killed to 14.