Authorities are now claiming that an Afghani citizen who targeted two Americans in a stabbing attack on Friday in Amsterdam’s main train station had “terrorist motives.”
“Based on the suspect’s first statements, he had a terrorist motive,” the city administration said in a statement on Saturday.
The victims were moderately injured and though hospitalized, their injuries are not considered life-threatening. The assailant was shot and wounded by police after the attack.
The Netherlands’ counter-terror chief, Dick Schoof, tweeted that the country’s threat level would remain at four out of five
“Sadly, this reprehensible act fits into the current threat assessment,” he said.
The attacker, identified as Jawed S., was Afghani national with a residency permit to live in Germany and German police are assisting in the investigation. He is scheduled to be arraigned during a closed-door hearing with an investigating judge on Monday. Officials have not disclosed the charges he could face.
Also in the Netherlands last week, Dutch politician Geert Wilders, head of the Freedom Party, canceled a cartoon drawing contest of the Prophet Muhammad that was to be held in the in the Dutch parliament in November. The politician allegedly received death threats.
“To avoid the risk of victims of Islamic violence, I have decided to not let the cartoon contest go ahead,” he said.
A 26-year-old man, reportedly from Pakistan, was arrested this week in The Hague after making an alleged death threat against Wilders.
