The US State Department has issued a warning to tourists planning to travel to Barcelona, Spain over the holiday season of an increased chance of a terrorist attack around Christmas and the New Year.

The State department tweeted its travel warning on Sunday, suggesting that visitors to Spain over the holiday season should be wary of moving vehicles, tourist areas and transport hubs, as "terrorists may attack with little or no warning."

#Spain: Exercise heightened caution around areas of vehicle movement, including buses, in the Las Ramblas area of Barcelona during Christmas and New Year’s. Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, and other public areas. pic.twitter.com/MPGiZwMwxq — Travel - State Dept (@TravelGov) December 23, 2018

US travel services' advisory level for Spain stands at two out of four, just below "Reconsider travel".

Barcelona and nearby Cambrils were the scenes of two van-ramming attacks in August last year, which killed a total of 16 people and injured over 150. The country's own terror alert has been at level four out of five, or "high", since the January 2015 terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo weekly in neighboring France.

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