Spain, Islamic terrorist neutralized with MP5 shots by special units in a Madrid apartment

A day of violence ended in bloodshed in the Madrid district of Puente de Vallecas, where an 18-year-old, Spanish of Maghrebi origin, was seriously injured by special units of the Policía Nacional. The entire incident was treated as a possible jihadist-motivated act, with the activation of the anti-terrorism device and the elite units of the Spanish National Police.

The street assaults and the first intervention of the Policía Municipal

It all began in the early afternoon, around 2:00 PM, on calle Martínez de la Riva in the Spanish capital. The young man attacked three people with a large knife: an elderly woman was struck on the back of the head, while two younger men sustained a back wound and a cut on the arm, respectively. The victims were assisted and transported to the hospital in non-serious conditions, while the attacker managed to escape, presumably heading towards the family home, located not far away, on calle Peña de Atalaya 69, in the San Diego neighborhood, an area already known for urban decay and drug trafficking.

Around 4:45 PM the young man's brother called emergency services, reporting that the boy was locked inside the house, armed with a knife, in a state of extreme agitation and with completely altered mental faculties, probably due to drug use. Patrols of the Policía Municipal arrived on the scene. The family members were already outside the apartment at that point.

When the officers opened the door, the young man immediately adopted an extremely aggressive attitude: he shouted phrases like "I'll kill you," threatened the police officers, and brandished the knife at them. A municipal officer and a national officer used taser guns, but the charges did not have the desired effect: the subject did not fall, did not drop the weapon, and continued to shout and agitate. Shortly after, he violently closed the door again, barricaded himself inside, and continued with the threats, going so far as to say he would "take them with him" and began repeatedly shouting “Allahu Akbar”.

The raid by special units

Faced with the escalation and the connection to the stabbings that occurred a few hours earlier on the street, the intervention was classified as a possible Islamist-motivated attack. Support was then requested from the Subgrupo Operativo Antiterrorista de Reacción (SOAR), a specialized unit of the Unidades de Intervención Policial (UIP), equipped with ballistic shields, anti-terrorism equipment, and assault weapons.

Upon arrival, SOAR operators repeatedly ordered the young man to come out and surrender, but only new threats and further shouts of “Allahu Akbar” came from inside. Assessing the risk to the officers and neighbors, it was decided to raid. When the door was broken down, in the narrow corridor of the apartment, the young man charged at the police with the knife in hand, seeking close physical contact and continuing to invoke "Allahu Akbar."

Quickly, the special units opened fire with the H&K MP5, firing three shots that hit the attacker in the lumbar area, chest, and hip, managing to stop the assault. After verifying that there were no other threats in the residence, the officers provided first aid by bandaging the wounds, awaiting the paramedics from Samur-Protección Civil, who managed to stabilize the young man before transferring him in serious condition to the Gregorio Marañón hospital.

The area was cordoned off, and the scene unfolded under the eyes of residents in a neighborhood already marked by crime and drug trafficking. The incident is now the focus of an investigation by Spanish anti-terrorism, which is delving into the degree of radicalization of the young man and evaluating the episode as a possible action of a “lone wolf” jihadist, against a backdrop of drug abuse and declared hatred towards law enforcement.