The small Catalan town of Ripoll north of Barcelona is reeling with the news that eight of the 12 jihadist suspects killed or arrested were local residents.
Best known for its Romanesque monastery, Ripoll, with about 11,000 inhabitants, is the last place you would expect a jihadist cell to operate.
Four suspects have appeared in court in Madrid in connection with the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils that killed 15 people.
Police now believe the young men were brought together and radicalized in Ripoll by a local imam with suspected terrorist links.
The suspects were brothers and friends of mostly Moroccan origin. Some were not out of their teens.
Catalan police chief Josep Lluís Trapero said the cell was believed to be 12 strong, planning the attacks for more than six months.
The van-ramming plot, which killed 13 people and injured more than 100 on Las Ramblas in Barcelona, was carried
