A gunman yesterday opened fire on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht, killing three people and wounding several others in what officials said was a possible terrorist attack.
Armed counterterrorism police launched a huge manhunt for the attacker, urging local residents in one of the Netherlands’ biggest cities to stay indoors in case of further incidents.
Police released a picture of the Turkish-born suspect, naming him as 37-year-old Gokman Tanis, and warning people not to approach him.
Photo: AFP
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the incident, just days ahead of local elections, was “deeply disturbing” and police stepped up security at mosques and airports.
A body covered in a sheet could be seen on the tracks in Utrecht as armed police and emergency services swarmed around the scene, while helicopters hovered overhead.
“We cannot exclude a terrorist motive,” the head of the Dutch national counterterrorism service, Dutch National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg told a brief news conference before rushing off for a crisis meeting.
There had been shooting at “several locations,” he said, but did not give further details.
“A major police operation is under way to arrest the gunman,” he said.
The terror alert level in Utrecht was raised to maximum level five, he added.
Police later surrounded a building a few hundred meters away, a reporter at the scene said, but it was not clear if the gunman was inside.
Police in Utrecht said the shooting took place on a tram in the 24 Oktoberplein area of the city and that “a possible terrorist motive is part of the investigation.”
“Multiple people have been injured. The surrounding area has been cordoned off and we are investigating the matter... Several trauma helicopters have been deployed to provide help,” they said.
One witness told NOS News they had seen an injured person running out of the tram with blood on her hands and clothes who then fell to the ground.
“I brought her into my car and helped her. When the police arrived, she was unconscious,” the witness, who was not named, told the broadcaster.
The Utrecht municipality said it advised “everyone to stay indoors until more is known. New incidents are not excluded.”
The local hospital said it had set up a crisis center.
Local media showed photographs of masked, armed police and emergency vehicles surrounding a tram that had stopped near a road bridge.
The Dutch military police said they were on “high alert” and were boosting security at the airports and at other vital buildings in the Netherlands.
All major political parties announced that they were suspending campaigning ahead of tomorrow’s local elections, which will determine the make-up of the Dutch senate.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique