Barcelona attack: Spanish Muslim woman wearing hijab beaten by young men in wake of Las Ramblas rampage

Madrid police also reports 'xenophobe and islamophobic' banners hanged from far-right group headquarters

A Muslim woman wearing a hijab was beaten by a group of young boys in what police are treating as an Islamophobic attack, one week after terrorists targeted Barcelona and Cambrils killed 15 people and injured more than 100.

The 38-year-old woman suffered injuries after a group of "two or three young men" she did not know attacked her in front of the Usera metro station in the south of the Spanish capital.

Staff members at the metro called emergency services and the victim was taken to hospital with cuts and bruises and anxiety symptoms following the attack, El Pais newspaper reports.

According to reports, police in Madrid are treating the incident as an Islamophobic hate crime.

The victim told authorities she saw little of the faces of the young men who insulted her and started beating her because she was wearing a hijab and looked like a Muslim.

The city's Diversity Management Unit has taken over the investigation and so far there have been no arrests.

El Pais also reports Madrid police were informed of "xenophobic and Islamophobic" banners hung by the neo-Nazi collective Hogar Social from a squatted building they use as headquarters on the other side of the city.

The banners are said to read "Islam destroys Europe while we open the doors" and "terrorists welcome" in reference to the international campaign "Refugees Welcome".

Authorities in Madrid have called for the removal of the banners to prevent violence which they fear could occur in reaction to the hate messages.

They added this could also constitute a hate crime.

Police reports stressed the "gravity of these actions" at a time when the country is in mourning after a van ploughed into a crowd and killed 13 people in La Ramblas, a main tourist attraction at the heart of Barcelona.