France Boosts Border Control With Spain Amid Search for Barcelona Van Attacker

French interior minister said that Paris is stepping up checks at the France-Spain in an effort to catch the perpetrator of the Barcelona van attack.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Paris is stepping up checks at the France-Spain in an effort to catch the perpetrator of the deadly Barcelona van ramming attack, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said Friday.

"#Barcelone: an individual is on the run. We are strengthening controls at the borders with the @policia& @guardiacivil [Spanish police and the Spanish Civil Guard]," Collomb posted on his official Twitter.

#Barcelone: un individu est en fuite. Nous renforçons les contrôles aux frontières avec la @policia & @guardiacivil.
🎙- sur @franceinfo

— Gérard Collomb (@gerardcollomb) 18 августа 2017 г.

​On Thursday, a van mowed down a crowd of pedestrians in the central Ramblas area in Spain’s tourist resort of Barcelona, leaving 13 people dead and over a hundred injured, in what police said was an act of terrorism. The Daesh terrorist group (outlawed in Russia) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Several hours after the Barcelona tragedy, a van rammed into a crowd of passers-by in the coastal town of Cambrils 74 miles south of the Catalan capital, injuring seven people, including a police officer. A woman later died in hospital. In a following counter-terrorist operation, four attack suspects were killed and one died from wounds later.