Spanish police say they've arrested four people in connection to terrorist attacks that killed 14 people and injured more than 100 others in and around Barcelona Thursday. Five suspects were killed as they tried to carry out a second terrorist attack in a nearby city.Police believe the attacks are the work of an organized group of terrorists — and that they acted after an accidental explosion derailed their plans to carry out a bombing in Barcelona.The current location of the driver of a white van that plowed through a crowd of people on Barcelona's landmark Las Ramblas boulevard Thursday afternoon remains unknown.At least one American died in the attack, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday."We have now received word and confirmed the death of one American citizen in the terrorist attacks in Spain, amongst those who have been killed," Tillerson said."We express our deepest sympathies to the loved ones of this individual" and to others who suffered from the attack, Tillerson said.Suggesting there are other American casualties, Tillerson added, "We're still confirming the deaths and injuries of others."Police say three parts of eastern Spain are focal points of their investigation and that events in all of them are linked: Las Ramblas in Barcelona; the town of Cambrils, where a second vehicular attack took place; and Alcanar, where an explosion killed one person Wednesday night.Here's a roundup of the situation in Spain; we'll update this story with further developments Friday:SuspectsFour people have been detained by police — and none of them had "a history of terrorism-related events," police in Catalonia said Friday.Police arrested a Moroccan man whose "identification documents were used to rent the van" in the Las Ramblas attack, NPR's Frank Langfitt reports from Barcelona.Five men were shot and killed by police at a roadblock in Cambrils early Friday. They were wearing fake explosives on their bodies, police say.The four arrested suspects were detained in and around Ripoll, some 65 miles north and inland from Barcelona, according to police.The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Barcelona attack, the SITE Intelligence Group reports.https://twitter.com/lizcastro/status/898495013545496577BarcelonaAt around 5 p.m. Thursday, the van attack killed or injured 112 people, who were from at least 34 countries. In addition to the U.S., the list ranges from Germany and Australia to Kuwait and Peru.Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau walked in the city's central plaza and led a moment of silence Friday, saying she was doing so "with freedom and love for our city and our life."Gathered in the sunny Placa de Catalunya, a crowd clapped in unison and chanted, "I am not afraid," as they marched on part of Las Ramblas."Kiosks are reopening on the promenade that was the scene of Thursday's terror attack," NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports. "Heavily armed police continue to block the area to vehicle traffic, and scores of tourists can be seen leaving area hotels in a hurry.""But the Barcelona airport this morning was packed with arriving passengers from around the globe, suggesting many vacationers refuse to be deterred by terrorism here."The head of the autonomous Catalan government here appealed for normality after what Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy described as a 'savage terror attack.' "Rajoy and other leaders, including King Felipe VI, attended the Barcelona rally.On Thursday, Colau said that terrorism "will not stop us from being who we are: a city open to the world," with courage and solidarity.
CambrilsAround 3 a.m. local time Friday, five men drove a car through a roadblock and plowed down a walkway along the beach in the resort town that is about 75 miles south of Barcelona."They hit pedestrians and a police officer, and then flipped the vehicle," Langfitt reports. "They got out of the car, they stabbed another pedestrian. Police shot and killed all five of these men, and they were wearing fake explosive vests."Four of the five suspected terrorists were killed by a single police officer, the Mossos police of Catalonia said Friday. The men had been armed with knives and an axe.AlcanarFarther south on Spain's eastern coast, a house exploded late Wednesday, possibly hastening the terrorists' plans for an attack, police said Friday. Police believe a jihadist cell was using the house as a location for fabricating explosives. The blast leveled the structure.The explosion killed a person who police believe was making a bomb; five others were injured."The driver of the car in Cambrils, they say, is connected to that explosion," Frank reports, citing police.AnalysisFrom NPR's national security correspondent Greg Myre:"Spain had been largely unscathed by Islamist extremism since the 2004 train bombing in the capital, Madrid, that killed more than 190. However, the Basque separatist group ETA has carried out mostly small-scale attacks for decades, and the Spanish security forces have considerable experience in dealing with terrorism."Deadly terror attacks in Europe have risen sharply since 2015, and that's largely because of ISIS, which has claimed responsibility for most of them. These have included highly orchestrated attacks, like the one in Paris in November 2015, where 130 people were killed when multiple ISIS terrorists carried out simultaneous assaults in the city."More recently, there have been several vehicle attacks in European nations, carried out by lone terrorists who apparently had little or no formal help from ISIS."ISIS began calling for vehicle attacks last fall, providing detailed instructions in its online magazine, Rumiyah, which means Rome. ISIS says it seeks to take over Europe, and Rome holds particular significance as the seat of the papacy."Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.