Madrid - A suspect still at large after the Barcelona van attack began showing more religiously conservative behavior within the past year and refused to shake hands with women during a visit to his birthplace in Morocco in March, family members say. The relatives expressed shock and anger on Sunday after discovering the alleged involvement in the Barcelona attack of Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, as well as his brother and two cousins, all originally from the small Moroccan town of Mrirt. Abouyaaqoub is one of 12 suspects in Thursday's attack on Las Ramblas, Barcelona's most famous boulevard, in which a van plowed into holidaymakers, killing 13 people. Abouyaaqoub's brother El Houssaine and first cousins Mohamed and Omar Hychami are three of five men killed by police during a subsequent attack early on Friday in the Catalan town of Cambrils, further down the coast from Barcelona. Spanish media say authorities believe Younes Abouyaaqoub drove the van though Catalan police can not confirm who was at the wheel. Police are hunting for him in Catalonia and on the French border. Relatives in Mrirt, about 150 km (93 miles) south east of the capital, Rabat, said they last saw Younes and Mohamed when they showed up for a brief, unexpected visit in March. "I opened the door, and I saw Younes and Mohamed on motorcycles. No one in the family knew they were coming. That's the last time we saw them," said a female cousin who asked not to be named. She said Mohamed was the more conservative one, but also that he had frequented nightclubs and drank alcohol before his behavior changed about three years ago. She blames him for influencing Younes. "Up until last year, Younes was totally normal, but when he visited us earlier this year, he refused to shake our hands, just like Mohamed," she said. "Younes came in, showered, went to Friday prayer at the local mosque, and we all had lunch together," she continued. "After that, we traveled together around the country, went to family occasions like weddings, things were normal."
