this is bbc news at 11pm. i'm martine croxall. our headlines: 13 people have been killed and more than 100 injured after a van ploughs into crowds at one of barcelona's most famous tourist areas. it was all of a sudden the police just shouted at everyone just to run and there was a really loud kind of crashing noise — i didn't stop to look back. there was just crashing noise — i didn't stop to look back. there wasjust a kind of immediate stampede in the opposite direction. the white van drove for more than half a mile hitting shoppers and holidaymakers in the busy market area las ramblas. armed police combed the streets for a man seen running from the van. tonight they've arrested two suspects. in other news: a rise in the top a—level grades for the first time in six years, with boys overtaking girls for the first time in almost two decades. good evening, and

welcome to bbc news. 13 people have been killed in barcelona and more than 100 injured after a van was driven into the crowds at one of the city's most popular tourist sites. so—called islamic state has claimed responsibility for the attack. thousands of people, holidaymakers and locals, were on the packed street in barcelona when the attack happened late this afternoon. the white van was driven at speed along the famous pedestrianised market area called las ramblas. the driver turned into the crowds at this point here and drove the rented van for around half a mile through them, killing and wounding dozens of people as he went. 0ur correspondent gavin lee reports from barcelona. to make people have been arrested

but the police say that neither of them were the driver. terror on the streets of europe, again. and, again, a vehicle used as a weapon. come on, come on, just come on. las ramblas, in barcelona, a packed sunny evening on spain's most famous boulevard, in panic. screaming come on, you're gonna be alright. this white van mounted the pavement and ploughed into pedestrians. sirens bodies were left lying on the street. those who were nearby rushed to help the injured. emergency services arrived quickly,as the hunt for those

responsible began. the city's metro and train stations were closed down. the nearby streets quickly deserted, as people were told to stay inside. i saw a white van with the side door open. we heard gunshots. whether it was the police or from the van, i don't know. i didn't hang around for that. we ran into the burger king to get shelter. reporter: what was going through your mind when it was going on? are we going to survive? yeah, we were just scared they were going to get in there. they pulled all the shutters down. just kept us safe and that was it. i saw people falling to the ground, and that struck my eyes, rather than the car. i immediately sensed it was a nice—like event. and people around it ran away, fled away in panic. authorities say the vehicle was driven half a kilometre down las ramblas boulevard, reportedly at up to 80

kilometres an hour. police have released a photo of this man, driss 0ubakir, said to have rented the van. he's understood to have been known to police. a former prisoner, released five years ago. police say two people have been arrested tonight but investigators are still working to get to the bottom of how this happened and who was behind it. right now, people are being told to stay well away from the city. but this attack has happened in the middle of summer. there are locals, there are tourists, there are thousands of people here unsure of where to go and whether it is safe and whether there are more people out there planning another attack. you cannot be sure to go anywhere else, anything can happen. wherever we go, we will still be exposed to something. tonight, as people start to comprehend the brutality of what's happened, they are being told to stay away

and indoors, as police try to co—ordinate who carried out the attack and if any threat remains. as gavin reports, there is a heavy security presence across the centre of the city tonight. 0n the one hand people are told to stay in doors. 0n the other hand, tourists come to me and said, what are we supposed to do? people with their suitcases who are supposed to be hiding say they are worried about another attack. let me bring in anwar, you were here around 5pm this afternoon on holiday. a conference tomorrow at catalonia university over independence and about human rights, so i came it earlyjust to chill out. just tell me, anwar. this has been a terrifying experience. what have you been told to do, to hide? no, no one has told me to hide. i have to say the police and

emergency services did a tremendous job. within 30 seconds of the attack the place was swamped with police officers, ambulances, fire brigades, who did a difficultjob officers, ambulances, fire brigades, who did a difficult job clearing the area. there is not a lot of information what to do. i spent four hours walking around trying to get to my hotel room. gavin lee speaking with an eyewitness. here are some of eyewitness accounts. i was walking up to the catalu nya metro accounts. i was walking up to the catalunya metro station and i heard screams first of all and a couple of crashes, where i am guessing it was the moment the van mounted the pavement and knocked over all kinds of stalls and that kind of thing. and then that is when i saw the crowds parting because of a massive from of people on las ramblas it self, and that is when i saw the van going at full speed down the middle of las ramblas. and when i saw that it wasn't slowing down that is when

i realised that there was something obviously very, very wrong. i realised that there was something obviously very, very wronglj i realised that there was something obviously very, very wrong. i saw a white van with its front looking like it was broken out and it was going at at firsti like it was broken out and it was going at at first i thought it was a service vehicle. then i realised it was going too fast. it looked to be as if it was going left to right hitting people at the stands, they were people shopping basically. all of a sudden people we re basically. all of a sudden people were just screaming and running. my taxi stopped. we knew immediately what was... you know, naturally what happened, or what was going on at that moment. and we waited for a second and my taxi driverjust art of saying "0h second and my taxi driverjust art of saying "oh my god, oh my god" and i was of saying "oh my god, oh my god" and iwas in of saying "oh my god, oh my god" and i was in shock. we ran into the ba ke ry i was in shock. we ran into the bakery and ran up the stairs to hide and as we looked out the window people were running through the markets. hundreds and hundreds of people running through the markets

just as we were coming down. and then that's the point when we just sort of heat under the table upstairs in the bakery and we just waited. we were there for about 40 minutes i think riding and then we we re minutes i think riding and then we were told it was safe to come out but we must move away from the area. joining me from barcelona is our europe correspondent gavin lee. and a number of lines coming from the police in the last hour. what's the latest with the investigation? the street just the streetjust behind me leads on to las ramblas, the most famous promenade, it was packed at 5pm on the dot according to police this evening when the driver of the white friend went through a crowd and we are talking thousands of people. it was absolutely packed on las ramblas. the police are saying in the last half an hour 13 people have been killed, 15 are in critical condition in hospital, more than 100 have been injured. details from the belgian consulate to say a belgian

tourist in the city is among those who were killed. what we know from the investigation — after the car was brought to a stop, the police then carried out, basically check in then carried out, basically check in the bars. until five then carried out, basically check in the bars. untilfive minutes ago there have been hundreds of people in the bars and restaurants hiding and bunkered down. 100 in the museum as well told to stay where they will work for their own safety and just in case one of the attackers was among them. they have been released to leave. you may start to see people leaving shortly. we know that there were two men arrested in a bar in part of the city. we are told they were not in the car at the time. they have been arrested in connection with the attack. there was a third person shot dead this evening, around an hour later, at 6pm this evening. police say he went through three different checkpoints around 500 metres from here. there is no confirmation that was immediately involved in the attack. what we know is the image released

ofa what we know is the image released of a moroccan, driss 0ubakir, he spent time in prison in 2012 and he had been released. his passport was found at the scene. right now people are told they can come out. there are told they can come out. there are quitea are told they can come out. there are quite a few tourist at the moment with people who have brought baggage here. people who thought they would come back. they were told to hide. ultimately right now they are worried, a, what can they do, they can't go in, and also, are they under threat? police say it is just the start of the investigation and operations continue from here. there are reports that the suspect whose photograph has been released, driss 0ubakir, he has supposedly handed himself into police and said, my documents have been stolen. yes, we have heard these reports. the police had given a press conference in the last half an hour and a spanish officials are not confirming that at all. someone has gone to say look, this is nothing to do with me. we have seen this before. we spoke

after the berlin and nice attack. there were documents that had to be verified for a long time. and there have been fake passports used in the paris attack remember two years ago 110w. paris attack remember two years ago now. those that came from greece and managed to get to paris or using three orfour different managed to get to paris or using three or four different kinds of names. that is of course a big issue. they released this one police image so far. the other thing to point out is about two months ago there are reports here in the spanish media that the cia had given notice and a report at the time that las ramblas was a target, that the spanish officials should be on scene. and talking to eyewitnesses here, british tourists among the crowd, in fact, here, british tourists among the crowd, infact, one here, british tourists among the crowd, in fact, one person said to me he couldn't get amid the people, it was too busy, so he walked away just minutes before 5pm and they say police were on the scene within three minutes of the attack, armed officers, and that is why they acted so officers, and that is why they acted so quickly after about three minutes

past 5pm this afternoon. we are six hours following the attack. relatively few details. this is the biggest terrorist attack — we don't if it is a jihadist attack. reports would suggest it is that way. since 2004, the train attacks, the bombings in madrid. for the moment, thank you very much. just to say that in the last couple of minutes, spanish police have been talking about an explosion that happened late on wednesday in a place about 120 miles south of barcelona, it was an explosion at a house and they believe that is linked with the van attack in barcelona today. in that explosion at least one person died. police suspect those people who were in the house were preparing an explosive device. that is what they are saying at the moment. they are making the connection between the explosion on

wednesday and what has happened tonight. well today's attack using a vehicle to mow down pedestrians is one of at least seven to have been carried out in europe injust over a year. 0ur security correspondent gordon corera has been looking at what more, if anything, can be done. barcelona is just the latest a series of vehicle attacks, leaving a terrible but almost familiar scene on the streets of europe. the first major incident was in nice, when a lorry ploughed into a crowd just over a year ago. it was a target and moment to maximise the casualties and impact. then a lorry attack onto a christmas market in berlin, then van driven into the city centre in stockholm. britain has not immune. in march, a man ploughed into a westminster bridge. three men drove down london bridge

injune before attacking people with knives and then finsbury park mosque, people were struck by a car. stopping these attacks is hard. here at westminster bridge they have installed these barriers to stop vehicles ramming into pedestrians on the bridge but an attacker could just pick a different crowded place. the authorities are also looking at things like more checks on people making short—notice rentals of vans, but the problem is these attacks require just every day items, just a car, no guns or explosives and, with so little planning required, it can be hard to spot them and stop them. new shock absorbing barriers, like this one shown in a test, may offer some protection but counter—terrorism experts caution they cannot stop all attacks happening. it's an almost impossible thing to prevent completely but you can

try to make it a little bit more difficult for terrorists and that, to some extent, is all we can do. the way we stop this from happening is by preventing people from becoming radicalised or by people willing to come forward to say — "i know someone who might do this." this is how we stop it. this is one of the men authorities believe it is responsible and, tonight, islamic state so—called said it was responsible. but this does not always mean there was a direct link with the group and one major concern for security forces around the world is that these kind of attacks can be carried out with little or no training, direction or co—ordination. joining me now is raffaello pantucci, director of international security studies at the royal united services institute in london. thank you very much forjoining us. water the similarities and the

differences between this attack and others we have seen using a van. what is difficult is we don't know what has happened yet. we don't know much about this particular incident. someone has driven a truck through a crowd in a savage way, a way that is familiar to nice. but we do not entirely what has happened after that. there were scattered reports of people getting out of the vehicle and trying to take hostages, but it seems that story has not panned out. there might be an individual still on the loose. we don't know what has happened. there are reports of potential foreign explosion that took place yesterday in barcelona. there is also potentially other people connected, a larger network perhaps disrupted. we have seen one

individual on the loose trying to do something before capture. it is difficult to know what we can make of it now. the so—called islamic state's claim does not reveal any new information to us. it seems to be par of the course for statements they have made after incidents like these were they claim it involved there are soldiers. —— where they claim it involved there. they are using technology that has been used publicly several times over the past few months. anything that happens like that, they will say it is something to do with them. how seriously should we take the claims that islamic state invariably put out that they in some way have been instrumental in promoting these attacks and making them take place?

should be even report it? it is difficult. the issue is, in some insta nces, difficult. the issue is, in some instances, we have seen the messages and videos they put up demonstrate a clear connection to the individuals. they release videos, names, some sort of message that shows something not already in the public domain. in those cases, we are clearly looking at individuals being directed by them. the difficulty is that the other end of the scale. individuals doing an attack that is modelled on what the group has been espousing for some time. they will do it in a way that islamic state once done. it is then discovered they looked at radical material. but we never see the connection. do we say that if someone the connection. do we say that if someone linked to the organisation? do we say they are passively

consuming the on line vitriol and reacting to it in some way? how much can we say that is a connection? if we are not seeing any extra information released, they are only tangentially connected. that is what we should look at, should we report these claims? with the london incidents, london and manchester, the group put up similar messages. we have seen no evidence afterwards they had a tangible connection to it. in other attacks with vans and vehicles, there were guns and knives. that is not the case here yet. details are sketchy. what does the success of one attack do to

encourage someone else to the success of one attack do to encourage someone else to do the same thing elsewhere in europe? encourage someone else to do the same thing elsewhere in europe7m isa same thing elsewhere in europe7m is a common problem, copycat crime. if you think back to the attack and murder of lee rigby in 2013, there was a murder of lee rigby in 2013, there wasa similar murder of lee rigby in 2013, there was a similar attack the next day, a soldier in paris. and individual attacked him with a knife. it is clear this individual was on the periphery of a network but also had psychological issues. he was clearly inspired by that. we regularly see this where terrorism is conducted. that is what we are seeing in these attacks. we are seeing people who are on the cusp of maybe doing something and they see something else happened and they feel inspiration, a draw, a good moment to do the attack because it will be associated with a bigger message, making my taxi more important by

association. —— attack. that is u nfortu nate. we association. —— attack. that is unfortunate. we just don't know yet. there are many lines coming in, some untrue, some suggesting something more sophisticated and complicated. it is difficult to know categorically whether we are looking ata categorically whether we are looking at a copycat, something more than that. indeed. details are coming in. there was a reference to the explosion in barcelona only yesterday. these attacks, though, using vehicles, they are simple, low tack, and not as easy to be picked up tack, and not as easy to be picked up on in planning as something like a bomb. —— low—tech. up on in planning as something like a bomb. -- low-tech. it is a difficult part of the methodology. islamic state have been propagating this. the tools of terrorism. they

are accessible to everyone in their daily lives. cars, knives. everyone has access to that. trying to counter these attacks, these plots, security services are notjust looking at network ten penetrating networks and understanding them, they are also looking at trigger activity. —— networks. they are looking at sourcing weapons and getting ammunition. that shows people they are looking at may be of greater concern. the things they are using are things we all use in daily lives. intelligence agencies are trying to figure out whether you are trying to figure out whether you are trying to figure out whether you are trying to launch an attack orjust going about daily business. that means it is difficult for operations and security forces to understand

how to disrupt plots before they are able to murder people. this may sound perverse, but the fact that a low—tech attack takes place, is that an indication that the security services are not getting somewhere, that their detection methods are so good they are more likely to catch some of these days if they are planning something high—tech? some of these days if they are planning something high-tech? you are correct. it is a reverse characterisation. it is very true. pa rt characterisation. it is very true. part of the reason we have seen more of these kinds of attacks taking place is the intelligence services have gotte n place is the intelligence services have gotten better at understanding networks and disrupting them. the fa ct we networks and disrupting them. the fact we have seen so many of these attacks, we should not mistake them for a lack of intent on the part of terrorist groups like al qaeda to launch more sophisticated plots and attacks. they still want and have

the ambition to do these larger operations like the atrocity we saw in paris, the attack in brussels, or even madrid in 2004, london, 2005, but it is harder to do it now because security services have gotten better at understanding how these networks operate. we have better monitoring, access to chemicals and weapons. it is not a perfect system, but it is a much more effective capacity. to some degree you are seeing groups resorting in some ways to these low—tech attacks, because that is what they can get through. to some degree, their goal is to launch an attack, in effect of attack. you settle on what you can, you get the noise and you achieve what you can achieve without having a long and sophisticated plot. there is a

question as to whether the groups instigating these plots have the ability to launch something more substantial. all of these low—tech attacks, individuals with random incidents around europe, it is a heavy burden on security services to be able to deal with these attacks both ahead of time and subsequently. is this tactic a way of distracting while they attempt something more substantial? we can draw comfort from the fact they have not done something substantial in sometime. reuters are saying the spanish prime minister mariano rajoy has said it isajihadist minister mariano rajoy has said it is a jihadist attack. that is how he is a jihadist attack. that is how he is characterising it. given that spain has had terrorist attacks in the past and las ramblas is an obvious target given how popular it is with visitors in particular, have

we reached the point where safe places like that are going to have to be heavily policed, have barricade, be totally pedestrianised? we are seeing an attack methodology right now that has really become so diffuse and random in some ways, using vehicles to drive into crowds, you are seeing europe revaluate what they can do with crowded spaces and what kind of urban architecture they will have to start designing to protect people in these places. in terms of barcelona, these places. in terms of barcelona, the police, the fact we were hearing from your colleagues reporting on the ground that the police were there in minutes of the incident taking place shows how barcelona is a tuned to this potential target, this place being a potential target. —— attuned. i am sure after the

terrible atrocities in europe, you will see people revisiting many of the public spaces and their planning. barcelona is a city where it is not surprising to see something horrible like this happen. it isa something horrible like this happen. it is a place where you have substantial radicalisation, in spain, barcelona, madrid. we have seen many spain, barcelona, madrid. we have seen many people going off to fight in syria and iraq and have seen a lot of radicalisation. it is not entirely surprising. but you have to see security forces around europe thinking a lot more about how they can make sure that you can separate people and crowds from vehicles and also thinking more about policing these spaces. thank you so much, as

always. thank you. before we go on to another subject, the spanish prime minister, mariano rajoy, has also said he will call on other political parties in spain to unite against terrorism. the number of teenagers achieving top a—level grades has increased for the first time in six years in england, wales, and northern ireland. hundreds of thousands of students received their grades today. for the first time in 17 years, boys were ahead of the girls in achieving the top marks. here's our education editor, bra nwen jeffreys. i'm on the way to get my a—level results now. i'm feeling pretty nervous. yeah, i'm starting to feel a bit nervous. i'm not going to lie. i don't know, i guess it's a good thing. it's all going to be over in literally, like, ten minutes, so super—excited. for sarah, alex, and georgia, a day of reckoning. two years of hard work, results riding on one set of exams. oh my gosh, no way!

so, how do they feel about the new a—levels, where as exams no longer count in some subjects? i personally found it really stressful. the idea that everything all of a sudden is at the end of two years is very intimidating, i think, for many of us. it really is, like you have got to remember things from two years ago and you sit there in the exam and you are like — "wait, is this right?" you doubt yourself a bit. but, like, it was ok. we got there in the end. with the old system, if you did badly in your as results you would have to resit that but at least it gives you a chance to redeem yourself if you have done bad. well done. despite the stress, exam results have held up. just a tiny dip in the new a—levels and for boys, the best top grades for decades, getting more a and a* than the girls. it's a day of such high emotions. all their hopes and fears compressed into a few hours and a piece of paper. and in england this year,

the stakes have felt particularly high, with students road testing a new system of exams. with more new—style a—levels next year, head teachers say the journey has to be better. we know where we want to get our students but we haven't had a map, we haven't had directions and when we have had these, they've been wrong or incorrect. so we've had to muddle through that and use our experience to get students to their destination now. that's an incredibly stressful situation. for those who missed out on grades, places still on offer at hull and other universities. hello, this is the university of hull clearing centre. thousands will still get to uni through clearing. tuition fees now more than £9,000 a year. no sign yet it's putting young people off.