International Manhunt for Barcelona Attack Suspect; Inside Quiet Town Where Suspected Terrorists Lived
VANIER: A search for a suspect in Spain's twin terror attacks is now an international manhunt. Spanish police fear that he may have fled the country. Meanwhile, investigators are learning more about the terror cell and the extent of its plans. Isa Soares explains.</s>ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Standing strong and united, a defiant Barcelona living up to its motto, "More than a club". Today -- a city -- a fitting ending to what had been a solemn day. Earlier Spaniards gathered outside the symbolic Sagrada Familia. Inside, Spain's King Felipe and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pay tribute to those who died and the more than 100 injured. But prayers hadn't even been heard when the tragedy of August 17th was relived once more. Authorities telling CNN seven-year old Julian Cadman thought to be missing was confirmed dead. As the country continues to come together, both to grieve and to mourn, police are making strides on what has become an increasingly complex investigation.</s>JOSEP LLUIS TRAPERO, HEAD OF THE CATALAN POLICE (through translator): They had planned one or more attacks in Barcelona with explosives that were made during these days in the hopes of causing even greater damage.</s>SOARES: The grand plan orchestrated from right here. They may have long gone, but their shadow continues to haunt the sleepy town. For days now, controlled explosions have rocked Alcanar. Police carefully sifting through rubble and the pile of explosives, taking stock of the magnitude of what was being planned.</s>TRAPERO: The number of canisters is more than 100 at the moment. But the inspection isn't over yet. It will probably last days, because it's a very slow process. As you know, this is the kind of explosive used habitually in Daesh attacks. And we're finding the ingredients to make this kind of explosive.</s>SOARES: For six months they squatted in this house, until a mistake by them forced their hand. Since that explosion, police say they discovered human remains belonging to two suspected terrorists. A third suffered serious injuries and is now under arrest. As the pieces of the puzzle come together, this man, Younes Abouyaaquob, is still on the run. Police may have intensified the hunt with reinforcements in highways and borders but five days on from the terror attack they acknowledge he may have fled through the night. Isa Soares, CNN -- Barcelona.</s>VANIER: And Spanish police arrested several suspected members of that terror cell in the quiet town of Ripoll. Melissa Bell went there and this is what she found.</s>MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees, the quiet town of Ripoll was known mostly for its ninth century monastery -- until now. In the town's center, the families, not of the victims of Barcelona and Cambrils but of the suspected attackers -- among them, Fatima Abouyaaquob, whose brother Mohamed Hychami was one of the five men killed by police as they launched an attack in the town of Cambrils.</s>FATIMA ABOUYAAQUOB, SISTER OF SUSPECTED TERRORIST: I'm still waiting for it to be a lie. That they've made a mistake. What can it be? It's not my brother because my brother is very normal. He's friends with everyone. Just ask his colleagues at (inaudible). His friends, they're Catalans.</s>BELL: Her brother was not alone. Eight of the suspected Barcelona and Cambrils terrorists from this small town. Their families gathered Saturday night in grief. But also, to disown the terror attacks. The placards read "Not in my name". On the outskirts of Ripoll, investigators have sealed off an apartment where the youngest of the alleged attackers Mousa Oukabir lived. One of Mousa's cousins turns up. He says he wants to collect belongings but is quickly escorted out. In shock, he can't believe what's happened. Mousa, he says, must have been brainwashed. A neighbor tells us what the family was like.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they were normal people but they didn't talk much. No, no, they didn't talk. If they could avoid saying hello to you, they would.</s>BELL: The Cafeteria Esperanza is a Moroccan bar where most of the Ripoll suspects would meet to drink mint tea. Even today, their former friends are inside doing just that, but watching the news with a sense of disbelief. They simply can't believe, they say, that the men they knew so well, men who drank, men who ran orderly lives and who particularly religious might have carried out such atrocities. They also expressed a sense of anger, that they should have been committed in the name of Islam. Only 5 percent of Ripoll's 11,000-strong population is Muslim. The town is peaceful and although proudly Catalonian, happily integrated, say local officials.</s>JORDI GUNNI MENINO, RIPOLL ASSISTANT MAYOR: We work together, the Muslim community and the local (inaudible) to make different activities and built bridges to be a normal community.</s>BELL: A normal community whose peace has been shattered. The makeshift mosque where Mousa Oukabir prayed is now shuttered to the outside world and to its many questions. Melissa Bell, CNN -- Ripoll.</s>VANIER: President Trump returns from vacation to fresh upheaval in the White House. The political turmoil when we come back after the break.