AMSTERDAM: Dutch prosecutors on Friday said a knife-wielding assailant who allegedly stabbed and killed a man and wounded another in Rotterdam on Thursday night may have had a terrorist motive.
The 22-year-old man stabbed his first victim in a parking garage beneath Rotterdam’s Erasmus Bridge before moving to street level, where he fatally attacked another person, local media reported.
He was subsequently overpowered by bystanders and police and taken into custody.
Prosecutors said he had been charged with murder and attempted murder with a terrorist motive.
“Initial investigation shows the suspect was possibly driven by ideology,” the prosecutors said in a statement, as they said the man had shouted “Allahu Akbar,” which means “God is Greater” in Arabic, several times during the attack.
“But other motives cannot be excluded,” they added.
The victim who was killed was a 32-year-old man from Rotterdam, while the one who was wounded was a 33-year-old man from Switzerland, the prosecutors said.
The suspect lives in Amersfoort, a city located about 80 km (50 miles) from Rotterdam, they said.
De Telegraaf newspaper reported that a personal trainer who had been giving an outdoor class knocked the suspect unconscious with a squat stick that he had broken in two, and other bystanders threw chairs at him.
Witnesses described the suspect as carrying two large knives and targeting random individuals.
Rotterdam knife attack possibly a terrorist act, prosecutors say
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Rotterdam knife attack possibly a terrorist act, prosecutors say
- The 22-year-old man stabbed his first victim in a parking garage beneath Rotterdam’s Erasmus Bridge before moving to street level
- Prosecutors said he had been charged with murder and attempted murder with a terrorist motive
Two high-speed trains derail in Spain, broadcaster reports seven people killed
- The accident happened near Adamuz, which is near Cordoba
MADRID: Two high-speed trains derailed on Sunday in southern Spain, the rail network operator said, and state-run television channel RTVE said seven people had died, citing police sources.
The accident happened near Adamuz, in Cordoba province. Seven people have been confirmed dead by police, RTVE said, adding that 100 people have been injured, 25 seriously.
Spanish police did not immediately respond to request for comment from Reuters.
“The Iryo 6189 Malaga — (to Madrid) train has derailed from the track at Adamuz, crashing onto the adjacent track. The (Madrid) to Huelva train which was traveling on the adjacent track has also derailed,” said Adif, which runs the rail network, in a social media post.
Adif said the accident happened at 6:40 p.m. (1740 GMT), about ten minutes after the Iryo train left Cordoba heading toward Madrid.
Iryo is a private rail operator, majority-owned by Italian state-controlled railway group Ferrovie dello Stato. The train involved was a Freccia 1000 train which was traveling between Malaga and Madrid, a spokesperson for Ferrovie dello Stato said.
Iryo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Adif has suspended all rail services between Madrid and Andalusia.
Andalusia emergency services said on social media that all rail traffic had been halted and emergency services were on their way, including at least nine ambulances and emergency support vehicles.
CALLS FOR MEDICS
A woman named Carmen posted on X that she had been on board the Iryo to Madrid. “Ten minutes after departing (from Cordoba) the train started to shake a lot, and it derailed from coach 6 behind us. The lights went out.”
Footage posted by another Iryo train passenger, also on X, showed an Iryo staffer in a fluorescent jacket instructing passengers to remain in their seats in the darkened carriages, and those with first aid training to keep watch over fellow passengers.
The staffer told passengers they would be evacuated when it was safe to leave, but at that moment the safest place was on the train. He also urged people to maintain mobile phone batteries to be able to use their torches when they disembarked.
The passenger wrote: “In our carriage we’re well but we don’t know about the other carriages. There’s smoke and they’re calling for a doctor.”
The regional government has activated emergency protocols to mobilize more resources to the accident site. Locals posted on social media that a building would be set up in the village nearest the crash for evacuated passengers to be taken to.
Salvador Jimenez, a journalist for RTVE who was on board the Iryo train, shared images showing the nose of the rear carriage of the train lying on its side, with evacuated passengers sitting on the side of the carriage facing upwards.
Jimenez told TVE by phone from beside the stricken trains that passengers had used emergency hammers to smash the windows and climb out, and they had seen two people taken out of the overturned carriages on stretchers.
“There’s a certain uncertainty about when we’ll get to Madrid, where we’ll spend the night, we’ve had no message from the train company yet,” he said. “It’s very cold but here we are.”
