Posted on 11/12/2004 9:16:48 AM PST by knighthawk
Dutch prosecutors said on Friday they suspected the two men arrested in a dramatic raid in The Hague were plotting murder and a newspaper reported that one of them wrote he was ready for a martyrs' death.
The two men, Dutch nationals aged 19 and 22, were arrested after a 14-hour standoff with police in which the suspects threw a grenade, wounding four officers.
Dutch media reported that the 19-year-old was Jason W., the son of a Dutch woman and a US soldier, who converted to Islam five years ago. De Telegraaf daily said he had left a note suggesting he was ready to die for "jihad" or holy war.
Dutch Interior Minister Johan Remkes told parliament in a debate on Thursday evening that Wednesday's raid in The Hague, along with others in Amsterdam and Amersfoort in which another five people were arrested, had foiled a new attack.
The Netherlands has been on a state of high alert since outspoken filmmaker Theo van Gogh was killed on Nov. 2 by a suspected Islamic militant. The murder has prompted a spiral of revenge attacks on mosques, churches and religious schools.
A note left stabbed to the murdered man with a knife threatened liberal member of parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali, with whom Van Gogh made a film about violence against women in Muslim society, and also criticized two other prominent politicians.
Ping
It is beginning to look as though the Neiderlanders have a serious problem.
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