Dutch police search 37-year-old Turkish national for shooting in Utrecht

The Dutch authorities have linked a 37-year-old man born in Turkey with the shooting in a tram where at least three people died. Police posted the picture of the bearded man in public transport, dressed in a dark blue hooded sweater and identified him as Gokman Tanis.

This is the first distributed image of a person related to the attack on Utrecht, a city in central Holland. Police warned citizens not approaching the man if they saw it and called the police instead.

Immediately after the attack, the authorities set off the terrorist alert in the region to its maximum level and declared that they were considering the possibility of a terrorist attack. "terrorist motive". The Dutch military police also increased the alert at Dutch airports and key buildings of the country while seeking the man.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte described the situation as "very disturbing"And the country's counterterrorism coordinator said on Twitter that he had badembled a crisis team to discuss the situation.

For the moment, no arrests have been made, said police spokesman Bernhard Jens. "One of the explanations is that the person he escaped in a car"added the spokesman, who did not exclude the participation of more than one person.

"We want to try to capture the responsible person as quickly as possible," he added.

In Germany, police have increased surveillance at the Dutch border. Heinrich Onstein, a spokesman for the federal state police of North Rhine-Westphalia, said additional officers had been instructed to monitor not only roads, but also smaller roads and lanes. railway.