The alleged perpetrator of the machete attack that caused the death of a sexton in Algeciras on Wednesday evening was not “under the radar” because of radicalization, the Spanish government assured on Thursday, while the judiciary underscores the “jihad” character of his act.
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A priest was also seriously injured in this attack, which hit two churches a few hundred meters apart in the southern Spanish port city across from the Moroccan coast.
The suspect arrested immediately after the attack, a 25-year-old Moroccan, had “never been under the radar of a national service for radicalization” in Spain or in neighboring countries, the Foreign Minister told Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska on Thursday evening during a visit to Algeciras.
If the executive of the socialist Pedro Sanchez awaits the progress of the investigation to qualify the nature of the attack, Mr. Marlaska did not rule out that it “could be of a terrorist nature”, stressing that “all hypotheses remain open”. . He clarified that “no third parties” were involved.
According to the government, the suspect, who lived near the churches targeted in his attack, had been the subject of “deportation proceedings due to an irregular situation” since June. Gibraltar authorities said he was expelled from the British enclave in August 2019, which he reached by jet ski.
An investigation into “suspected acts of terrorism” was entrusted to a judge in charge of terrorism cases at the Madrid Court of National Audience on Wednesday evening.
In the document authorizing the search of the suspect’s home and consulted by AFP, this judge makes the connection between the attack committed by Yassine Kanjaa and “jihadist Salafism”.
In particular, the judge reports how the suspect “looked up at the sky while shouting words in Arabic under which we could hear Allah” as he delivered “a final fatal blow” to the sexton. He also assures that after his arrest he “shouted Allah Akbar several times”.
According to the Interior Ministry, the suspect – whom a photo taken after his arrest shows with a full beard and a smile – attacked the priest of the Church of San Isidro, Antonio Rodríguez, “armed with a machete, seriously wounding him” after 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
“He then went to the Church of Nuestra Señora de La Palma, where he attacked the sacristan,” said Diego Valencia. The latter “was able to escape from the church but was caught outside by the assailant, who inflicted multiple fatal injuries on him,” the ministry continued.
The priest, who was badly injured in the neck, was “out of danger of life”, said his religious community on Thursday.
This attack stunned Algeciras, a city of 120,000 inhabitants and 129 nationalities, according to the municipality.
Several hundred people, some in tears, gathered at noon in front of the Church of Nuestra Señora de La Palma. A minute’s silence was observed while the church bells rang, AFP noted.
Flowers were laid and candles lit on the spot where the sacristan was murdered.
José Manuel Calvo, who was present in the outbuildings of this church at the time of the attack, told AFP he heard the attacker scream. Direct witnesses told him that “he was talking about Allah”.
“In those moments you think you’re in a movie,” because “when it happens to you, you don’t believe it,” confided AFP to Juan José Marina, the priest of the church, who was not with Algeciras at the time of the attack. “If I’m alive, it’s because Diego is dead,” he added, very moved.
Calls not to break the coexistence between the communities that have multiplied in Spain after this attack.
The secretary general of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, Msgr. César García Magán, condemned “unjustifiable” facts and warned of “the danger of demonizing communities”.
The Islamic Commission of Spain, one of the main organizations representing Muslims in the country, issued a press release condemning “in the strongest possible terms” a “heinous criminal act” and expressing its “solidarity with (his) Catholic brothers”.
The last major attack in Spain dates back to August 2017, when two attacks by a jihadist cell on Ramblas Avenue in Barcelona and in the seaside resort of Cambrils (northeast) left 16 dead and 140 wounded.