Fatalities reported among dozens injured in apparent car ramming in Barcelona near kosher restaurant
Published August 17, 2017
(JTA) — Dozens of people were injured in the Spanish city of Barcelona when a car plowed through a crowd of people on its main shopping street, killing several people.
The attack on the Rambla avenue Thursday occurred near the entrance to Maccabi, a kosher restaurant, though Spanish media, including the online edition of the El Mundo daily, reported that the bulk of injuries occurred outside the FNAC department store, situated on the same street.
It was not immediately clear whether Maccabi had been deliberately targeted, though according to the Daily Mail several people were injured outside the restaurant.
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Witnesses at the scene said the driver of the car, a small truck, fled on foot the scene of the incident. The AFP news agency said Spanish police were treating the incident as a terrorist attack. Shots were fired at the scene, witnesses said. Shortly after the attack, two armed men entered a Turkish restaurant, Luna de Estambul, in Barcelona, according to the Associated Press. The men were holed up in the restaurant as police surrounded the place, Mundo Hispanico reported.
In photos from the scene of the attack, men and women in summer clothing are seen lying on the ground, and in some cases being treated by civilians and medics.
As the car began hitting pedestrians, a stampede occurred on the street and in the FNAC store, in which additional people were injured, according to El Mundo.