Terror cell behind Spain attacks dismantled: Interior Minister

"The cell has been completely dismantled," he told reporters, speaking of the group that is believed to have consisted of at least 12 young men, many of them Moroccan, some teenagers.

But Joaquim Forn, in charge of interior matters in the north-eastern region of Catalonia where the attacks took place, downplayed Zoido's comments.

"We can't say the investigation is finished until we locate or detain all those who we think form part of this terror cell," he told reporters.

Police are still hunting for 22-year-old Younes Abouyaaqoub without confirming reports he was the driver who smashed a van into people on Barcelona's busy Las Ramblas boulevard on Thursday.

Thirteen people died and scores more were injured in scenes of horror witnessed by terrified friends and relatives.

Investigators have been working against the clock to unravel the terror cell behind the Barcelona rampage and a second ramming attack with a car in the seaside town of Cambrils early yesterday, which left another person dead and six injured.