MADRID, MSNBC, August 17, 2017 – A van crashed into dozens of people in the center of Barcelona on Thursday and several people were injured, police in the Spanish city said.  Two armed men entrenched themselves in a bar after the crash, El Periodico newspaper reported.

El Periodico reported gunfire in the area of La Boqueria Market, although it did not cite the source of the information. It was not immediately clear that the men were the drivers of the van.

Police described the incident on Twitter as a “massive crash.” Emergency services said people should not go to the area around the city’s Placa Catalunya, and requested the closure of nearby train and metro stations.

A policeman stands next to an ambulance after a van plowed into the crowd, injuring

Armed police respond to terror attack in Barcelona

A Catalan police spokesman says he cannot confirm deaths in the crash or that the incident is a terror attack.

El Pais newspaper said the driver of the vehicle had fled on foot after mowing down dozens of people. While full details of the incident were not immediately clear, since July 2016 vehicles have been used to ram into crowds in a series of militant attacks across Europe, killing well over 100 people in Nice, Berlin, London, and Stockholm.

A police officer cordon off a street in Barcelona, Spain

In recent weeks, threatening graffiti against tourists has appeared in Barcelona, which draws at least 11 million visitors a year. In one video released under the slogan “tourism kills neighborhoods,” several hooded individuals stopped a tourist bus in Barcelona, slashed the tires and spray-painted the windscreen.