There is currently no sign of “terrorist motivation,” Dutch police said.
Three people were released in the Netherlands following a hostage-taking which, however, is still ongoing, Dutch police announced on Saturday. “Three hostages have just been released. However, the situation is not over.said the police in a press release published on the social network
Several people were taken hostage on Saturday in a town in the Netherlands whose city center was cordoned off, the Dutch police having so far detected no sign of a “terrorist act”. “A hostage-taking involving several people is underway in a building in the center of the town of Ede”located about 100 kilometers east of The Hague, police said.
“We see there are a lot of questions about motive. For the moment, there is nothing to indicate that this was a terrorist act., she added. A security cordon was set up around a cafe and residents of around 150 houses were placed in safety, she added.
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The number of hostages held is officially unknown, with local media reporting four to five people. The local municipality said on its website that the city center had been closed and that riot police and explosives experts were at the scene. Residents are being urged to avoid the city center and rail traffic has been diverted due to the incident.
Series of attacks in the Netherlands
The Netherlands has experienced a series of terrorist attacks and plots, but not on the scale experienced by other European countries, such as France or Britain. In 2019, the country was mourned by a shooting on a tram in the city of Utrecht, which left four people dead. A man of Turkish origin, identified as Gokmen Tanis, later confessed to having had a terrorist motive for the attack which led to the closure of the country’s fourth largest city.
Also in 2019, Dutch police charged two suspected jihadists with planning a terrorist attack involving suicide bombers and car bombs. Authorities said an attack had been planned that year. A young Afghan identified as “Jawed S.” stabbed two American tourists at Amsterdam Central Station in 2018, later telling judges he wanted “protect the prophet Mohammed”.
The attack occurred a day after far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders announced he was canceling plans to organize a drawing competition to caricature the Prophet Muhammad. At the time, Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid urged Muslims to attack Dutch troops after “the hostile act of this country (the Netherlands) against all Muslims”. In 2004, Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was assassinated in Amsterdam by a man with links to a Dutch Islamist terrorist network.