An attack puts the Netherlands on alert | At least three …

Yesterday, at least three people were killed and five others injured when an armed man opened fire on a streetcar in the Dutch city of Utrecht, a shootout that, according to the police, could have a "motive" terrorist". Dutch police arrested Gökmen Tanis, a 37-year-old man born in Turkey, just hours after spreading a photo of Tanis warning people not to approach him.

According to the Dutch TV NOS, the only suspect identified appeared two weeks ago in a rape case, although his lawyer refused to confirm whether his client was on probation during the shootings that occurred yesterday. "At this point, we can confirm three dead and five wounded, including three serious," said the mayor, Jan van Zanen, in a video posted on Twitter, stating that the authorities were working on the grounds that it was safe. was acting as a "terrorist attack". .

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that the Netherlands "were surprised by an attack" in Utrecht and that "an act of terror is an attack on an open and tolerant society" like the Dutch. "If it's a terrorist act, there's only one answer: our rule of law and our democracy are stronger than violence," he said. Rutte stressed at a press conference.

Police and emergency services were in place while helicopters flew over the area. The deadly victim was covered with a sheet and lay beside the tram.

"We can not rule out a terrorist mobile," said Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, head of the National Agency for Security and the Fight against Terrorism (NCTV), adding that he had mobilized "l & # 39; 39 crisis team ". He also said that the alert had been raised to a maximum of five in Utrecht for the next 18 hours.

There is still a lot of confusion about what happened and the number of people involved in the shots, but the police confirmed that one person had pulled out a firearm and had started to fire indiscriminately and continuously against travelers from a tram stop from the place of 24 October, west of Utrecht. The alleged perpetrator then fled into a Renault Clío red vehicle, later on a nearby street. They do not exclude that there may be other people involved.

The Utrecht authorities advised "to stay inside before having more information.No new incident is excluded." Local media showed photographs of masked armed police and emergency vehicles surrounding a tram stopped near a bridge.

The mosques of the city have been closed, the ANP news agency announced. The shooting comes just days after 50 people were killed in an attack on two mosques in New Zealand.

Major political parties, including Prime Minister Rutte's VVD, have announced that they are suspending the campaign for tomorrow's local elections, which will determine the new composition of the Senate. Rutte also canceled a government meeting to monitor the situation.

The Netherlands has so far been spared the deadly attacks that have hit some of the neighboring countries in recent years, but recently alarming incidents have occurred. In August, a 19-year-old Afghan man living in Germany stabbed and wounded two American tourists at Amsterdam Central Station before being hurt and controlled. In September, Dutch investigators reported arresting seven people and thwarting a "major attack" against civilians.