“Saudi Arabia offers its sincerest condolences to the families of the victims and to the Spanish government,” said a statement released by a source at the Saudi Foreign Ministry.
The statement said the Kingdom “stands in solidarity with Spain against all form of terrorism and extremism” and called on the international community to rally all efforts to eradicate this epidemic from its roots.
World leaders also denounced the terrorist attack, with US President Donald Trump saying the US stood ready to help Spanish authorities.
“The United States condemns the terror attack in Barcelona, Spain, and will do whatever is necessary to help,” Trump tweeted.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron — whose country witnessed a similar horror when a Tunisian man plowed a 19-ton truck through a crowded boulevard in Nice, killing 86 people in July 2016 — said his thoughts were with the victims of the “tragic attack.”
A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the “revolting attack”.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Twitter that London “stands with Spain against terror.”
“My thoughts are with the victims of today’s terrible attack in Barcelona and the emergency services responding to this ongoing incident. The UK stands with Spain against terror,” she wrote on Twitter.
The Nice carnage and other assaults including the 2015 Paris attacks were claimed by the Daesh jihadist group.
In another deadly vehicle attack in December, 12 people were killed when a man driving a truck plowed into a crowd at a Berlin Christmas market.
Spain has emerged as a potential target for jihadists, with extremist websites mentioning it for historical reasons, since much of its territory was once under Muslim rule.
Generally, authorities in Spain — the world’s third largest tourism destination — remain discreet on the terror threat.
But they publicize every arrest of alleged jihadists, most of them detained for propaganda, recruitment for extremist groups or “glorifying terrorism.”
According to the interior ministry, more than 180 “jihadist terrorists” have been arrested since 2015.

Source: Arab News