Police evacuated tourists from the area around Barcelona's Sagrada Familia church as part of an anti-terror operation after a false alarm of a van carrying a suspicious package.

Specialist bomb disposal experts have been sent to the area to check a van, police said, but have now confirmed it was a false alarm.

The Catalan police force tweeted: 'It is a false alarm. Situation has normalized in Sagrada Família.'

The nearest tube station was closed and locals and holidaymakers were ordered away from cafe and bar terraces and told to take refuge inside premises.

Several roads were also closed while the area was cordoned off as police gathered to investigate.

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The area was cordoned off as police rushed to investigate

It comes less than a month after 13 people were murdered and 130 hurt in the city's Las Ramblas when a jihadist drove a van into pedestrians on the street

A bomb squad was sent to investigate the package, but later announced that it was a false alarm

The nearest tube station was closed and locals and holidaymakers were ordered away from cafe and bar terraces and told to take refuge inside premises

Several roads were also closed while the area was cordoned off as police gathered to investigate

The drama is understood to have been sparked by a suspicious package inside a van, but the bomb squad found no explosives inside.

Los Mossos, the Catalan police force, said that nobody had been detained in connection with the investigation.

Regional Mossos d'Esquadra police earlier tweeted in a message partly directed at those immediately affected: 'We are making checks around the Sagrada Familia as part of an anti-terror operation and have cordoned off the area.

'Follow the instructions of police.'

The Sagrada Familia, one of Barcelona's most popular tourist attractions, was the intended target of the terrorists who carried out last month's atrocity in the city's famous Ramblas and the seaside resort of Cambrils.

It comes less than a month after 13 people were murdered and 130 hurt in the city's Las Ramblas when a jihadist drove a van into pedestrians on the street.

It emerged that the terrorists who attacked Catalonia in August were plotting to detonate vans loaded with gas canisters into popular tourist destinations in Barcelona - including the Sagrada Familia (pictured)

Five men then drove into pedestrians in nearby Cambrils, murdering one woman and hurting six others before being shot dead by police.

It later emerged that the terrorists were plotting to detonate vans loaded with gas canisters into popular tourist destinations in Barcelona - including the Sagrada Familia.

Spain has kept its anti-terrorism security warning one level below the maximum since mid-2015.