Man attempting to stab police officers shot and killed in Spain during an apparent terror attack.

Spanish police stand outside the suspects apartment. BBC/EPA.

A man attempting to stab a police officer in Spain in an apparent terror attack was shot and killed. BBC. The man, a 29 year old Algerian man named Abdelouahab Taib approached the police station and demanded to be let in. He then pulled out a knife and attempted to stab a female police officer who shot him dead. The attack occurred in the Barcelona area that suffered a terror attack last year that killed 16 people, though it is unclear if this attack was related to that incident. It is unclear if the suspect had any links to wider terror organizations. 

My Comment:

This attack isn't getting much press coverage in the United States. It was a minor attack but you would think that there would be some coverage for yet another terror attack. Part of it might be because it was such an obvious failure as well. As they always say "if it bleeds it leads" and since nobody died in this case besides the attacker it's not going to be good clickbait. It's a sad state of affairs but not to be unexpected. 

I think failed terror attacks should get a lot of coverage. It serves to demoralize potential attackers and make police and security forces look good in comparison. I also think we should mock these attackers for being stupid. I think that mockery in general is an effective way to counter terror attacks and we should mock attacks when they fail spectacularly like this. 

It's very clear that this attacker was incredibly stupid. Bringing a knife to a gunfight is always a bad idea. Walking into a police station with a bunch of armed cops and then trying to stab someone? What did he expect to happen? The best case scenario is you stab someone before you get shot down but even that is extremely unlikely. It's possible he was trying to steal a gun after he stabbed the original policewoman but that's an even dumber plan for reasons I have explained before. In short, expecting to steal someone's weapon and then use it yourself without being familiar with the weapon isn't going to work. 

And making a scene before you strike? Stupid as well. The cop knew something was up and was probably prepared for violence. When the man attacked she was able to put him down quickly. Thank God again for stupid terrorists. 

It's not like it is that hard to kill a bunch of people with knives. You just need to make sure that you do so in a place where nobody else is armed. Given the state of the EU gun laws you could find many places without armed opponents and CCW exists but is extremely rare you could find a lot of easy places to attack. There would have been plenty of targets but this idiot attacked the one place where he knew that someone would be able to shoot him. 

As always I don't think there are going to be any connections to other terror attacks. Even ISIS or al-Qaeda would have told this guy to get a better plan. My guess is that he was inspired by them but had no actual connections. It is also possible that he was mentally ill or something, but that doesn't excuse what he did.