Excerpt:
Barcelona, a world-renowned tourist destination, has also been an attraction for jihadists on a trail linking European countries such as France and Belgium to Moroccan criminal networks.
Since the 2004 Madrid train bombings – the deadliest Islamist attack on European soil -- Spain had been spared the sort of jihadist violence that has struck France, Belgium, Germany and the UK over the past two years.
That was until Thursday, August 17, when a van mowed into crowds on Barcelona's busy Las Ramblas, killing 13 people, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group. Hours later, a woman was killed in a second attack in the southern coastal town of Cambrils.