Madrid
CNN
—
Spanish authorities believe the Moroccan suspect who carried out the deadly machete attack on two churches in the southern port city of Algeciras on Wednesday was a lone attacker and are being investigated as a possible terrorist attack.
“The police investigation is progressing rapidly. There are no third parties involved in the event,” Interior Minister Fernando Grande Marlaska said while attending a European Union conference in Stockholm on Thursday.
The ministry said the suspects carried out attacks at the churches of San Isidro in Algeciras and Our Lady of Palma on Wednesday night, killing a church cleric and injuring a priest.
The Spanish National Court in Madrid has opened an investigation “as a suspected terrorist attack” in connection with the assault, the court’s press agency said.
A police source told CNN that the suspect, who was arrested shortly after the fatal attack on the sacristy of the Second Church, is a 26-year-old Moroccan.
A statement from the interior ministry said he had been in Spain since last summer, lacking the proper documents to stay in the country and had an administrative deportation file open, but a deportation order was imminent. A ministry statement said the suspect had no criminal record in Spain.
The suspect has been living in Algeciras since last summer, the city’s news agency told CNN.
The Algeciras news agency added that several other church members suffered minor injuries while trying to stop the perpetrators, but did not specify the number or type of injuries.
The national court for terrorism cases said the suspects would be arraigned before a judge in Madrid, but the court’s news outlet said the time was yet to be known as the police investigation continued. rice field.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has offered condolences after the attack.
“My deepest condolences to the families of Sacristan who died in the terrible attack in Algeciras,” Sanchez tweeted late Wednesday. All our support for the work being done.”
