Vivid accounts of Spain attacks from five witnesses

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August 18, 2017 3:36 PM

"All of a sudden, I just sort of heard a crashing noise and the whole street just started to run, screaming."

This video grab obtained from the instagram account carlos_tg_32_ shows people tending to an injured woman after a van ploughed into the crowd on Barcelona's popular Las Ramblas boulevard.

Following are some vivid accounts by witnesses of the deadly attacks using vehicles that took place Thursday evening in Barcelona and in the early hours of Friday in the seaside resort town of Cambrils, and the aftermath:

Barcelona attack

- "All of a sudden, I just sort of heard a crashing noise and the whole street just started to run, screaming. I saw a woman right next to me screaming for her kids" - Aamer Anwar, a human rights lawyer told Britain's Sky News television.

- "When it happened I ran out and saw the damage.... There were bodies on the ground with people crowding round them. People were crying. There were lots of foreigners" - local shop worker Xavi Perez told AFP.

- "My wife and I are on holiday. We left our 15 month-old back in the States. And the only thing I wanted to do is live another day to see her. When we were hunkered down in the back of this man’s shop, kitchen, it was terrifying. We heard a lot of people running around outside. We heard shots fired. And at that time, all we had to do was … you have to contemplate … is this literally here where I die?" - Ash Patel, US tourist from Washington DC, to AFP.

Cambrils

- "Within 30 seconds the police was already there, jumped out of the car, started shouting at the guy, the guy was then saying something else again. And then they 'pop, pop', did a couple of shots and he fell down. He stood back up and then he stepped over the fence and he started, he was taunting, smiling and he carried on walking to the police, and then they gave it to him again, a couple more shots and then he fell to the ground." - British witness Fitzroy Davies, recounting how one of the Cambrils attackers taunted police before being killed.

Aftermath

- "We are not afraid!" - crowds in Barcelona's main square shouted defiantly, breaking out in applause after marking one minute's silence on Friday attended by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and King Felipe VI.

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