Terror in Catalonia Nicholas Rasmussen

Combating Terrorism Center at West Point Objective • Relevant • Rigorous | January 2018 • Volume 11, Issue 1 FEATURE ARTICLE A VIEW FROM THE CT FOXHOLE Terror in Catalonia Nicholas Rasmussen The inside story of the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils Former Director, National Fernando Reinares and Carola García-Calvo Counterterrorism Center FEATURE ARTICLE 1 "Spaniards, You Are Going to Sufer:" The Inside Story of the August 2017 Editor in Chief Attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils Paul Cruickshank Fernando Reinares and Carola García-Calvo Managing Editor INTERVIEW Kristina Hummel 12 A View from the CT Foxhole: Nicholas Rasmussen, Former Director, National Counterterrorism Center EDITORIAL BOARD Paul Cruickshank Colonel Suzanne Nielsen, Ph.D. Department Head ANALYSIS Dept. of Social Sciences (West Point) 18 The Evolution of Shià Insurgency in Bahrain Michael Knights and Matthew Levitt Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Price, Ph.D. Director, CTC 26 Red on Red: Analyzing Afghanistan's Intra-Insurgency Violence Matthew DuPée Brian Dodwell 32 The Potential Jihadi Windfall from the Militarization of Tunisia's Border Deputy Director, CTC Region with Libya Anouar Boukhars CONTACT Combating Terrorism Center During the course of nine hours in August 2017, a terrorist cell carried out U.S. Military Academy two vehicle-ramming attacks in Catalonia, with the first striking pedestri- 607 Cullum Road, Lincoln Hall ans on the famous Las Ramblas promenade in the heart of Barcelona. In our cover article, Fernando Reinares and Carola García-Calvo draw on judicial documents and inter- West Point, NY 10996 views with investigators to provide the inside story of the worst terrorist attack in Spain since the Phone: (845) 938-8495 2004 Madrid bombings. Their account reveals the 10-man cell of ‘homegrown’ radicals, led by an extremist Moroccan cleric in the town of Ripoll, had initially planned to carry out vehicle bomb at- Email: [email protected] tacks in Barcelona and possibly Paris, but changed and accelerated their plans after they accidentally Web: www.ctc.usma.edu/sentinel/ blew up their bomb factory where they were manufacturing TATP. While it is still not clear whether the cell had any contact with the Islamic State, the authors reveal that the network behind the No- vember 2015 Paris attacks was also plotting to launch a similar attack in Barcelona that year. SUBSMISSIONS This month’s interview feature is with Nicholas Rasmussen, who retired as the head of the U.S. The CTC Sentinel welcomes submissions. National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) at the end of 2017. Michael Knights and Matthew Levitt draw on interviews with Bahraini security ofcials to outline how Shià militant cells in the coun- Please contact us at [email protected]. try have evolved from easily detectible groups of amateurs to small cells of attackers with overseas training and combat experience and the ability to mount efective IED attacks. Matthew DuPée looks The views expressed in this report are at the threat to the Taliban from other insurgent groups. Anouar Boukhars examines the potential jihadi windfall from the militarization of Tunisia’s border region with Libya. those of the authors and not of the U.S. This issue is the first to be launched on the Combating Terrorism Center’s redesigned website, Military Academy, the Department of the which is also being unveiled. The new, easy-to-search, interactive interface showcases the important Army, or any other agency of the U.S. scholarship contained in CTC Sentinel over the past decade, as well as all the research published by Government. the Combating Terrorism Center since its founding almost 15 years ago. Paul Cruickshank, Editor in Chief Cover: The Las Ramblas promenade in Barcelona, Spain, on August 19, 2017, two days after a terrorist vehicle attack there. (Carl Court/Getty Images) JANUARY 2018 CTC SENTINEL 1 “Spaniards, You Are Going to Suffer:” Te Inside Story of the August 2017 Atacks in Barcelona and Cambrils By Fernando Reinares and Carola García-Calvo Although authorities did not suspect any link to terrorism at In the space of nine hours in August 2017, a terrorist cell the time, all three men were pro-Islamic State jihadis and part of armed with vehicles and knives launched two attacks on a larger cell whose members were preparing to strike in Barcelo- the city of Barcelona and the town of Cambrils, in Catalo- na—and perhaps beyond.1 a The Alcanar house was the cell’s base of nia, Spain, killing 16 in the worst terrorist atrocity in Spain operations and its bomb factory, where members were making tria- since the 2004 Madrid train bombings. New information cetone triperoxide (TATP). But it exploded accidently when two of obtained by the authors from judicial documents and inter- the jihadis were drying and moving part of the extremely sensitive white crystalline powder known as “Mother of Satan.”2 views with investigators make clear the attacks could have With the loss of their bomb factory, other cell members changed been much worse. The 10-man cell, which included four their attack plans and improvised vehicle-ramming attacks in Bar- sets of brothers all indoctrinated by an Islamic State-sup- celona and Cambrils the following day. After outlining how the porting cleric in the Catalonian town of Ripoll, initially group changed their plans to launch the most devastating attack planned to carry out ambitious vehicle bomb attacks in on Spain in more than a decade, this article examines the evolution Barcelona and possibly Paris using TATP, but changed and of the threat to Barcelona and the Catalan region. It then outlines accelerated their plans after they accidentally blew up their what investigators and the authors themselves have uncovered bomb factory. The Islamic State claimed the attackers were about the Ripoll-based cell behind the attacks and the nature of its “soldiers of the caliphate,” but while newly disclosed infor- links to the Islamic State. Finally, the article looks at lessons that mation shows the network behind the Paris attacks target- can be learned from the failure to thwart the attacks. ed Barcelona for an attack in 2015, it is still unclear wheth- This article draws on nine sessions of interviews with police, intelligence, and judicial ofcials knowledgeable about the case, er the group had any direct role in the August 2017 attacks. which were conducted by the authors between September and December 2017 in Barcelona and Madrid. Among the interview- n August 16, 2017, shortly before midnight, a mas- ees were ofcials from Catalonia’s autonomous police, or Mossos sive explosion destroyed a house in Alcanar, a coast- d’Esquadra (hereafter Mossos), Cuerpo Nacional de Policía (CNP, al town in the province of Tarragona, one of the four National Police), Guardia Civil (GC, Civil Guard), Centro de In- provinces that make up Spain’s northeastern region teligencia contra el Terrorismo y el Crimen Organizado (CITCO, of Catalonia. As a result of the blast, two men inside Center for Intelligence on Terrorism and Organized Crime), Centro the property died and a seriously injured man was brought to a Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI, National Intelligence Center), and O b hospital in nearby Tortosa. the Prosecutor’s Ofce of Audiencia Nacional (National Court). This account also draws on legally available judicial and law en- forcement documents—that is, criminal proceedings that are not Fernando Reinares is Director of the Program on Global Terror- subject to a gag order—as well as reliable open sources. ism at Elcano Royal Institute as well as Professor of Political Science and Security Studies at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, both in Madrid. He is also Adjunct Professor of Security Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. His latest books a During an initial site inspection, officers of the Catalonian autonomous include The Evolution of the Global Terrorist Threat: From police, known in the vernacular as Mossos d’Esquadra, dismissed the explosion as related either to the unauthorized refill of butane canisters for 9/11 to Osama bin Laden’s Death (edited with Bruce Hofman) nearby campers or to an illegal drugs laboratory. and Al-Qaeda’s Revenge: The 2004 Madrid Train Bombings, both b The authors wish to express their gratitude for the time and attention published by Columbia University Press. Follow @F_Reinares of all of their interviewees. Information derived from the meetings the authors had with these individuals is presented as coming from them Carola García-Calvo is Senior Analyst on International Terror- jointly and in an undifferentiated fashion. As agreed with the interviewees, ism and member of the Program of Global Terrorism at Elcano concrete information will not be attributed to any of them in particular. Unless otherwise indicated, the substantive information contained in this Royal Institute, as well as Associate Lecturer on Terrorism Studies article emanates from these individual and group interviews. Because of at Universidad Pontificia Comillas, both in Madrid. She is Aca- the gag order on the criminal proceedings opened after the Barcelona demic Coordinator of the European Union project MINDb4Act to and Cambrils attacks, it is important to state that explicit references to develop a comprehensive approach to violent radicalization, un- these court proceedings are not related to contact with any member of the police and intelligence services. Also, the authors wish to thank Álvaro der the Horizon 2020 Program. She co-authored, with Fernando Vicente, research assistant at the Program on

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