In a tweet on Monday, the US. State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs said residence of Barcelona should “Exercise heightened caution around areas of vehicle movement, including buses, in the Las Ramblas area of Barcelona during Christmas and New Year’s. Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, and other public areas,”
After the warning, the region’s Interior Minister, Miquel Buch said the police “were working on this threat.
“We take seriously all threats, all of them are investigated,” he added, without giving further details.
The Police have also said they have a suspect. They are looking for a 30-year-old Moroccan man with a licence to drive buses and have even circulated internal notes to that regard.
Despite this, Spain has kept its terrorist alert unchanged at the second-highest level, although security has been heightened for the Christmas holiday period, according to the Spanish interior ministry..
On August, 2017 a 22-year old Moroccan rammed a van into crowds on Barcelona’s tree-lined Las Ramblas boulevard, killing 14 people before killing another driver and fleeing.
Hours later, five others suspected to be his accomplices ran down pedestrians on the promenade of the seaside resort of Cambrils south of Barcelona.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.