A man wounded five people, two seriously, in a sharp attack in Amsterdam’s heart on Thursday, said Dutch police, before a spectator dominated him and then stopped him.
The police had given a thread of four serious injured, but the confusion seemed to have been the fact that the same suspect was also injured.
“Update: in the stabbing incident this afternoon, there were not four but five people injured. In addition, the suspect is also injured,” said Amsterdam police in a statement on X, previously Twitter.
The police refused to give an indication of a reason for the stabbing near the central square of the dam, saying that his investigation was underway.
They said they were “considering the possibility that the suspect may have randomly addressed the victims, but the exact reason is still unknown.”
“The suspect was dominated with the help of a citizen. Due to a leg injury, he was taken to the hospital,” authorities said.
A police spokesman had previously said to journalists that the suspect was receiving medical attention and would be interrogated at a later stage.
The authorities had sent a trauma helicopter to the square to serve the injured. The two serious injured are being treated at the hospital, police said.
The police spokesman could not give information about the condition of the injured.
The victims were a 67 -year -old woman and a 69 -year -old man from the United States, a 26 -year -old man from Poland, a 73 -year -old Belgian woman and a 19 -year -old woman from Amsterdam, authorities said.
A AFP The journalist on the scene said that the victims had been evacuated from the location, but that there was still a strong police presence and there were also ambulances.
Police appeals to the images
Early images of the local news agency ANP He showed a person on a stretcher loaded on the back of an ambulance.
Public broadcaster We He showed images of the police pushing someone on a stretcher while they were connected to an intravenous drip.
According to local media reports, the mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, left a meeting at the City Council when news of the attack broke.
“We hope to obtain clarity soon about the background of this horrible stabbing incident. Our hearts are with the victims, their families and their loved ones,” said Halsema in a statement.
The police urged anyone with images of the incident to upload them as evidence. They also asked people to avoid the area and let them carry out their research.
Local communication medium Het Parol He cited a witness, Marco Schoenmaeckers, saying that he saw one of the victims.
“I saw a knife of at least 10 centimeters (almost four inches) protruding from the girl’s back, among her shoulders,” said Het Parol citing Schoenmaeckers.
