Barcelona (dpa) – A memorial service was held in Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia church on Sunday to remember the victims of two terrorist attacks that left 14 people dead last week.
Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia, as well as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Carles Puigdemont, the president of the autonomous region of Catalonia, were among those attending mass at the world-famous church designed by Antoni Gaudi.
The celebration “for peace” that began around 10 am (0800 GMT) with festive organ music was led by Barcelona Archbishop Juan Jose Omella.
Thirteen people were killed and more than 120 injured in an attack on Barcelona’s popular Las Ramblas boulevard last week. A woman died hours later in a foiled attack in the coastal town of Cambrils.
Spanish police said Sunday that they are closing in on a person related to the attacks but could not confirm what role the suspect played. They added that an operation was ongoing in the north-eastern Girona region and security was increased along the French border.
According to media reports, investigators are concentrating on an imam who had preached at a mosque in the Ripoll area, in Girona, and could be responsible for radicalizing the members of the terrorist cell behind the attacks, said a cousin of the main suspect Younes Aboyaaqoub.
The imam, Abdelbaki Es Satty, served a four-year prison sentence for drug trafficking and allegedly was in contact with those responsible for the deadly terrorist attack in Madrid in 2004, El Pais reported.
Whether Es Satty is alive remains unclear. Spanish police have discovered human remains from at least two people in the ruins of a house in Alcanar that was destroyed Wednesday in a blast, media said.
Officials believe the cell had a bomb-making laboratory in the house.
Aboyaaqoub, believed to be the driver of the car that ploughed into pedestrians on Las Ramblas, could still be at large.
Investigators believe that the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils were connected and instigated by a dozen-strong terrorist cell. Five of the suspects were killed in Cambrils, while four have been arrested.
The other three have not been accounted for, including Aboyaaqoub and Es Satty.
