As the world comes to terms with yet another barbaric terrorist attack, word is filtering through on Spanish radio this morning that at least four Irish people were sadly injured in Barcelona last night, Hot Press can exclusively reveal.
The four Irish are from the same family and are of Asian descent.
It's also believed that two of them have been released from hospital, while the other two are suffering serious injures but not life threatening, according to news reports on Spanish radio.
We will bring you more news about the Irish injuries as soon as Spanish officials release more details.
But so far what we know is that the death toll, as of last night, is at 13 and over 100 people have been injured in two horrific attacks.
The first attack occurred at 4pm yesterday afternoon in the popular Las Ramblas district, which according to one Irish eye witness Alana Fearon is "like Temple Bar on a Saturday night".
The driver, who has been identified, smashed his van into pedestrians, killing 13 and injuring over 100.
Three men were arrest following the first attack, including Driss Oukabir, the older brother of the driver, who handed himself in. It's understood that his younger brother used his ID to rent the van.
The man who drove the van in Las Ramblas is still at large. He has been named as Moussa Oukabir, an 18-year-old Moroccan-born teenager, and is today officially the most wanted man in Europe.
While a fourth suspect was shot dead when he rammed police officers at a roadblock in Barcelona. However, local police are saying that they cannot confirm if the fourth man was an actual terrorist or was an innocent bystander fleeing the scene, according to media reports this morning.
A second major terrorist attack was then foiled a few hours later when five suspects were killed by police in gun battle at Cambrils, which is about 70 miles from Las Ramblas.
The terrorists had rammed their car into police and tourists at the beach resort, and injured seven people in the process, before being killed in a shoot-out. Bystanders ran for their lives as a hail of bullets rained down around them.
One eye witness who witnessed the gun battle told the Daily Mail: "He was taunting, smiling and he carried on walking to the police, and then they gave it to him again, a couple more shots and then he fell to the ground."
Speaking in today's edition of the Irish Mirror, one Irish eye witness of the first attack, Alana Fearon, a journalist herself, told the tabloid: "Police came from all angles and took everybody into shops.We just saw lots and lots of tourists running down La Rambla, which is obviously the busiest area in Barcelona.
"We thought that initially that it was pickpockets, because we had been warned and we thought police were coming after them.
She added: "We saw up to 13 police vans, riot police, flying past us in vans. Doors open, rifles. We were sitting at one of the bars in the middle of the strip.
"Everyone was asking 'what happened?' There was no ambulances initially. We didn't understand what happened. A police car came up."
Alana, who works as the editor of the website Dublin Live, made a video which is now up on social media and has since gone viral...
More to follow...
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