‘Allahu Akbar!’: Knife-Man Shot Dead After Attacking Spanish Police

An Algerian migrant male was shot dead early Monday morning by Spanish police after he attempted to attack officers with a knife.

A female police officer fired on and killed the 29-year-old man outside the police station in Cornellà de Llobregat in Catalonia, Spain, the Catalan edition of elPeriodico reports. Besides the slain attacker, there were no reported injuries.

The man, who has been named by local media as Algerian-origin Spanish resident Abdelouahab Taib, attempted to gain access to the station at 05:52 Monday morning, claiming he wanted to make an inquiry. Once inside, he drew a large a knife and shouted “Allahu Akbar” [Allah is the Greatest] — the familiar Islamic phrase which has increasingly come to be associated with the opening stages of terror attacks across Europe in recent years.

He was shot in the reception area of the station by one of the officers present. An ambulance was brought to the scene but the Algerian male subsequently died of his wounds.

The station and the assailant’s residence have been cordoned off by police, who are now investigating the background and motivation for the attack. Spanish police say they are treating the incident as a terrorist attack.

Witnesses looked on Monday afternoon as specialist police units including the bomb squad, police sniffer dogs, specialist firearms, and forensics entered the block of flats where the assailant lived. The entry, which appeared to have been conducted on the assumption the property contained further potential hazards, was delayed while officers waited for a judge’s warrant to enter the premises.

A Tweet by the Mossos, the Spanish police, confirms the incident and the shooting of the aggressor.

In reaction to the attack, which police said was a “clearly predetermined” effort to kill members of the police, officers and police stations around Spain stepped up security Monday.

This story is developing