Spanish officers on Monday shot dead an Algerian man who tried to attack them with a knife at a police station, police said.
The man entered a police station in Cornella, near Barcelona, just before 6:00 am (0400 GMT) "to attack the officers" and was "shot down", Catalonia regional police said on Twitter.
"An investigation has been launched following the events that occurred this morning at our police station in Cornella in order to clarify the reasons for the attack," a statement said.
The central government's representative in Catalonia, Teresa Cunillera, called for "prudence" before deciding what the attacker's motive was and until police had finished their investigation.
"Until there have been a minimum of checks, of looking into the whys, it is very difficult to draw any conclusions," she told public radio.
Catalan police were due to give more details about the attack at a Barcelona press conference scheduled for noon (1000 GMT).
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