The knife attack in front of the Amsterdam Central Station was, according to the investigators, a terrorist attack: The perpetrator “had a terrorist motive,” the city administration announced on Saturday night.

Amsterdam Stabbing

The knife attack of a 19-year-old Afghans on two US tourists in the central station of Amsterdam has been a terrorist attack from the perspective of investigators. This was announced on Saturday, said police. The first interrogations of the suspect, who has a German residence permit, showed that he had a
terrorist motive.

The Afghan had stabbed two American tourists on Friday and seriously injured. He had been stopped by police in an attempt to escape; the bullets hit him in the abdomen.

According to the municipality of Amsterdam, the police in Germany searched the apartment of the man whose name was given to Jawed S. Several data carriers were secured.

The police made no information about the German residence of the offender. He is to be presented this Monday to a coroner who decides on the extension of pre-trial detention. The Afghan is in solitary confinement and is not allowed to have any contacts except his lawyer.

A police spokesman said the victims had been selected arbitrarily according to previous findings. They can now be visited in the hospital.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Saturday, “This cowardly act shows how important it is for us to be alert and stay alert.” The city of Amsterdam said it had checked the existing security arrangements. “The courageous intervention of the police shows that Amsterdam is prepared for these kinds of incidents.”

Only on Thursday, a 26-year-old Pakistani was arrested in The Hague because he had announced in a video via Facebook, he wanted to make an attack on the Dutch right-wing populist Geert Wilders. The reason behind this is Wilders plans to hold a competition for caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Wilders had stated shortly afterwards that he had stopped the competition scheduled for November. He did not want “that the competition is used as an excuse for Islamist violence.” The cartoon competition had provoked violent protests in part of Islamic states.

Source: Die Presse