Lydia Spencer-Elliott
SPAIN’s High Court will start the trial of three suspected Islamist militants today.
The accused are being questioned in relation to the 2017 terrorist attack in Barcelona, which killed 14 people and injured over a hundred.
Taking place on Barcelona’s La Rambla, this was the deadliest attack in Spain in over a decade.
One attacker drove a van along the busy boulevard and hit pedestrians with the vehicle as he went.
On the same evening, an accidental explosion destroyed a house in Alcanar, believed to be the group’s base, where the suspected terrorist leader was hiding.
Of Spanish and Moroccan heritage, the two surviving accused will face trial for attempting to cause widespread destruction, belonging to a terrorist organisation and manufacturing and storing explosives.
The pair have been in prison awaiting trial since the attack took place three years ago.
Expected to last until December 16, the trial comes after countries across Europe have raised their terrorism alerts after attacks in France and Austria.
On November 3, the UK raised its terror threat level to ‘severe’, which means an attack is ‘highly likely’.
