Spain Maintains Level 4 Security Alert

The Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said that it was decided to maintain the level of alert at 4, on a scale of 5

The Spanish government has decided today to maintain its anti-terrorism alert level at 4 following Catalonia terror attacks, but to reinforce security measures at the same time in tourist areas and infrastructures, as announced by the Interior Ministry.

In a press conference, the Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said that it was decided to maintain the level of alert at 4, on a scale of 5, destined for an imminent terror attack situation involving the presence of Spain’s Army on the streets.

The decision was made during an anti-terror meeting held in Madrid and chaired by Mr. Zoido, which includes the Interior Ministry, intelligence services and senior state security forces.

The minister said, however, that the current alert level 4 – since June 2015 – will be reinforced, with additional security measures, in tourist areas and infrastructures, crowded places or events.

‘We know that zero risk does not exist. The absolute security is not attainable,’ but we will work day and night to put terrorists at the disposal of justice and abort their plans, Zoido said.

In an action claimed by Islamic State (IS), a cell of such a terror organization attempted Thursday on Barcelona and Cambrils, incidents that killed 14 people and injured over 100.

According to Zoido, the 12-member cell involved in the terror attacks was dismantled.

‘We can practically say that this terror cell has been utterly dismantled in Barcelona’, he told the press in Madrid.

So far, four suspects are under arrest, five were shot down in the Cambrils tourist resort and three others are already tracked down.

One of them, Younes Abouyaaqoub, a 22-year-old Moroccan man, is wanted today by police for alleged perpetrator of the mass terror attack, killing 13 people on Thursday and wounding over 100, in one of the most crowded streets of the so-called Ciudad Condal .