At Least 13 Dead After Van Hits Barcelona Pedestrians

At least 13 people are dead after a van drove into a crowd of pedestrians in Barcelona on Thursday, a local official has announced. More than 100 others are injured, CNN reports. Police initially didn't speculate on a motive for the incident, which took place near Las Ramblas, a popular tourist area, but they now say they're treating it as a terror attack, the Telegraph reports. There were reports of a hostage situation immediately following the attack, but police have now debunked that claim. Two men have been arrested in connection with the attack, but police are still looking for the driver of the van.

"All of a sudden I heard a crashing noise and the whole street just started to run screaming. I saw a woman next to me screaming for her kids," a man who was walking down the street at the time tells Sky News. "Literally within 30 seconds police vans, ambulances, police officers with guns were piling out, and we were sectioned off and then being pushed rapidly back." In a separate incident police say is connected to the attack, a person was also killed in an explosion at a house in Catalonia, about 120 miles from Barcelona, overnight. Two police officers were also run over at a security checkpoint in Barcelona Thursday, but it's not yet clear whether that was connected to the van attack. (More Barcelona stories.)