Madrid: Catalan emergency services said six civilians and a police officer had been injured in an attack in the town of Cambrils, which police said was linked to Thursday's Barcelona van attack.
Catalan police said on Twitter that a bomb squad in Cambrils would carry out several controlled explosions after they determined that the attackers were carrying explosive belts.
Police shot four of the attackers dead and left another injured during the operation earlier. The fifth suspect succumbed to his injuries later.
The confrontation came about eight hours after a van swerved through a pedestrian walkway in a popular destination in downtown Barcelona, killing 13 people and injured an estimated 100 more.
A manhunt is still underway for the van's driver who carried out the attack that was claimed by Islamic State.
Authorities said the death toll could rise, with more than 100 people injured, some seriously.
Police said they arrested two men, a Moroccan and a man from Spain's north African enclave of Melilla, though neither was the driver. Witnesses said the driver fled on foot. It was still not clear how many attackers had been involved.
Islamic State's Amaq news agency said, "The perpetrators of the Barcelona attack are soldiers of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting coalition states" - a reference to a US-led coalition against the Sunni militant group.
If the involvement of Islamist militants is confirmed, it would be the latest in a string of attacks in the past 13 months in which they have used vehicles to bring carnage to the streets of European cities.
It was the deadliest attack in Spain since March 2004, when Islamist militants placed bombs on commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people and wounding more than 1,800.
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