An injured person is carried in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017, after a white van jumped the sidewalk in the historic Las Ramblas district, crashing into a summer crowd of residents and tourists and injuring several people, police said. (AP Photo/Oriol Duran)
BEIRUT 聽鈥擳he Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the van attack in Barcelona that officials say killed 12 people and injured many others.
A statement carried by the extremist group鈥檚 media arm 鈥� the Aamaq news agency 鈥� says Thursday鈥檚 attack was carried out by 鈥渟oldiers of the Islamic State.鈥�
It says the attack was in response to IS calls for its followers to target countries participating in the coalition trying to drive the extremist group from Syria and Iraq.
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The statement provided no further details about the attackers.