Catalonia terror attacks: Third suspect arrested, police confirm on Twitter

A third person has been arrested in connection with a suspected Islamist militant attack in the northeastern Spanish city of Barcelona on Thursday and another incident in Cambrils, Spanish police said on Friday.

"A third person has been detained in Ripoll in relation to the attacks," local Catalan police confirmed on Twitter.

The Barcelona attack left 13 dead and more than a hundred injured after the suspect drove a van into crowds along a busy tourist street. Police said they had also killed five attackers on Thursday night in Cambrils, a town south of Barcelona.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the deadly rampage along the city's most famous avenue which was packed with tourists taking an afternoon stroll.

Witnesses to the van attack said the white vehicle had zigzagged at high speed down Las Ramblas, ramming pedestrians and cyclists, sending some hurtling through the air and leaving bodies strewn in its wake.

The injured and dead came from 24 different countries, the Catalan government said on Friday in a statement, ranging from France and Germany to Pakistan and the Philippines. Spanish media said several children were killed.