Posted on 11/10/2004 2:29:59 AM PST by bd476
"THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - An explosion during a police raid on a house in The Hague early Wednesday wounded three police officers, while Dutch authorities closed the air space over the city as part of the operation.
Authorities would not confirm whether the raid was connected to an investigation into possible terrorist suspects, and it was not immediately clear why air space over the city - which has no major airports - had been closed.
Several city blocks were cordoned off in a mostly immigrant neighborhood near The Hague's Holland Spoor train station, and police demanded identification from anyone wishing to leave.
The explosion occurred as police raided the house during an operation they said was conducted on behalf of national prosecutors. Gunshots were also heard during the raid.
Two police officers were hospitalized in serious, but not life-threatenidg condition, and one was treated and released with minor injuries, police spokesman Frans van Rijnswou said.
The building was surrounded by police in riot gear, fire engines, ambulances and swat teams.
Photographers on the scene showed images of a man of Asian descent being dragged from the building clad only in boxer shorts and escorted away, but police would not confirm the apparent arrest. They did confirm there were still suspects in the building..." (End excerpt)
AP-ES-11-10-04 0347EST
(Excerpt) Read more at ap.tbo.com ...
Thanks - this is interesting. Here I've heard references to "the Far East" as being the same as the "old" Orient.
What would leftists in Hollywood do? All together now... they'd blame Bush. :-)
By Anthony Deutsch Associated Press Writer
Published: Nov 10, 2004
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Special forces overpowered two suspected Islamic extremists Wednesday after a daylong armed standoff, adding to Dutch concerns that global terrorism has spread into their corner of Europe.
Police said five more suspects were detained in two other cities on a day that possible links emerged between the Muslim militant charged with murdering a Dutch filmmaker a week ago and terrorists allegedly involved in attacks and plots in Morocco and Spain.
The drama in The Hague, known as the City of Peace for the international peace institutions based here, was tied to what officials called coordinated raids on "a network of radical Muslims" and it resulted in three police officers and one suspect being wounded.
The bloodshed began when police tried to force their way into a house in the Laak working-class neighborhood at 2:45 a.m. and a suspect threw a grenade, seriously injuring an officer, authorities said. esulted in three police officers and one suspect being wounded.
The bloodshed began when police tried to force their way into a house in the Laak working-class neighborhood at 2:45 a.m. and a booby-trap bomb exploded, seriously injuring an officer, authorities said. Gunshots rang out and a suspect threw a grenade out the front door, witnesses said.
Hundreds of police and soldiers converged on the district behind the Hollands Spoor railway station and police helicopters hovered above as neighbors were evacuated. Eight to 10 gunshots were heard after 4 p.m., and then black-masked troopers fired tear gas and stormed the house just before nightfall, arresting two suspects, one of whom had been shot in the shoulder.
Police said a third suspect was arrested in Amersfoort and four were detained in Amsterdam in related operations.
Ethnic tensions have been high in the Netherlands since the Nov. 2 slaying of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, who had criticized Islamic fundamentalism.
Six suspects, believed to be members of a radical Islamic terrorist group, are in police custody in connection with the murder, including the alleged killer, 26-year-old Mohammed Bouyeri, who holds dual Dutch and Moroccan citizenship.
The Geneva newspaper Le Temps reported Wednesday that a terrorism suspect jailed in Switzerland, Mohamed Achraf, had telephone contact in September with Bouyeri.
Achraf's alleged group of Spanish-based Islamic extremists is suspected of plotting to bomb the National Court in Madrid, a hub for anti-terror investigations, as well as other targets.
Le Temps also said Achraf wired money from Switzerland to two purported Islamic militants in the Netherlands, Ziani Mahdi and Mourad Yala, who were later arrested on terrorism-related charges in Spain. Yala is believed to have met with Bouyeri several times in Amsterdam, the report said.
The Madrid newspaper El Pais said Tuesday that Spanish and Dutch police suspect Yala and Mahdi of having links with Samir Azzouz, who was arrested in the Netherlands in June for allegedly planning to bomb a major Dutch landmark. Azzouz, in turn, was friends with Bouyeri, according to Dutch officials.
Meanwhile, a Spanish police official said one of the other suspects in Van Gogh's killing was in contact with a Moroccan named Abdelamin Akoudad, who was arrested in Spain in October 2003 at Morocco's request as part of its investigation into bombings in Casablanca that killed 32 people.
AP-ES-11-10-04 1851EST
How true, the chickens have finally come home to roost. Some would say, with justification, that Europe is finally getting what it deserves, but that doesn't solve this horrendous problem. Interestingly, when you hear Liberals complain about the war in Iraq and the prospect of establishing a working democracy, they pooh pooh the notion six ways to Sunday. They dress it up in clean linen, but they're racists who believe Arabs haven't got the brains to run a democracy. It seems to be the only alternative to all out worldwide war, so they'd better be wrong.
Well, France and doubtless Germany, paid millions to Arab terrorists in bribes so they'd bomb other nations. They're hoping to keep the spigot flowing to Arafat's heirs.
You hit the nail on the head. We will be called upon to help and later on will bear endless recriminations, insults for doing so.
Sometimes when you wrap your mind around the totality of evil and its inevitable aftermath, the liars, thieves, those who profit from human misery and death, you just want to scream. How can people be so stupid over and over again? This is fascism. Same old song and dance, same result.
Welcome to the world of the everyday Iraqis.
It will be us or the United Nations... so of course that means us. Nothing against windmills and tulips, but I would just as soon we didn't.
Probably surrender.
"Some countries remember history and World War II. We need to recognize evil once again.
The Nederlands, Belgium, France and Germany must recognize evil and remember the same.
Never forget."
Britain will never forget.
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