Last updated 9.33pm - Thirteen people died this afternoon when a van ploughed into a crowd of people in Barcelona. Catalan government officials said more than 50 people were hospitalised.
Police said they had arrested two men in connection with the attack. It was not immediately clear how many attackers were involved.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement by its news agency.
Witnesses said the van zigzagged down one of Barcelona's busiest tourist avenues, Las Ramblas, mowing down pedestrians and leaving bodies strewn across the ground.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that according to preliminary reports, there were no Maltese among the victims.
Images posted on social media showed people being tended to as they lay on the street.
The driver of the van fled on foot and Spanish authorities warned people to avoid the area. Reports of two armed men being holed up in a restaurant were later denied.
Lawyer and University of Glasgow rector Aamer Anwar was walking La Ramblas when he heard screaming.
He said a shopkeeper told him five or six people were badly injured and described the scene as "chaos".
Mr Anwar said: "I had been to the Cathedral and walking down Las Ramblas for something to eat. Part of it was in the shade so I decided to keep walking down and literally within 10 seconds there was a crashing noise.
"I turned around and people were screaming - I could see a woman screaming with her kids - people started running and jumping into shops. I ran for about 50 or 100 metres and stopped to see what was happening. The police were very quickly on the scene and getting people to move back.
"I could see chaos right at the top area and I spoke to a shopkeeper who had run down and was screaming. He was Bengali so I spoke to him in Urdu and he said a van had driven into a crowd and he thought there were five to six people very seriously injured."
Steve Garrett was in a nearby market and sheltered in a bakery with several others after streams of people ran inside.
One member of the group, who took refuge with him, said she had heard gunshots after the incident.
Mr Garrett told the BBC: "A very large number of people ran into the market area in a big kind of way, lots of screaming, lots of shouting.
"The security guards immediately responded. We ran into the bakery with four or five other people and ran straight upstairs and hunkered down whilst an enormous wave of people went through the market.
Mr Garrett said a "second wave" of people then entered the market, followed by armed police.
He said: "They seemed to sweep through the market area. They seemed to be looking for someone. They were going very carefully, very cautiously, stall to stall."
The Malta Foreign Ministry also said no Maltese appeared to be among the victims. Malta's embassy in Madrid can be reached on telephone +34 91 391 3061 while Malta's consul in Barcelona is available on +34 93 4156600.
