Amsterdam police said a car caught fire on the central Dam Square on Thursday afternoon following an explosion in the vehicle.
Police said the driver of the car was suspected of having caused the fire and had possibly done so on purpose. No injuries were reported.
Police said camera footage had shown that the fire was caused by an explosion, which happened among a crowd of people on the busy square.
Images on social media show a man with burning clothes close to a small red car with flames lashing out the windows on the Dam Square. Police are seen extinguishing the flames on the visibly wounded man before taking him into custody.
Police said it had sealed off large parts of the square as explosives experts were investigating the car.
This comes just days after a 30-year-old knifeman from Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, carried out a seemingly random attack around the streets of Dam Square.
Carrying multiple knives, the man attacked people around the square before being overpowered by a mysterious British man, believed to be in his 30s, who has since been dubbed the ‘Hero of Dam’.
The victims were a 67-year-old woman and a 69-year-old man, both 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.
Amsterdam police said a car caught fire on the central Dam Square on Thursday afternoon following an explosion in the vehicle
Police said the driver of the car was suspected of having caused the fire and had possibly done so on purpose. No injuries were reported
This comes just days after a 30-year-old knifeman from Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, carried out a seemingly random attack around the streets of Dam Square
Four of the victims remain in hospital but their condition is stable, the prosecutors said.
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema thanked the British tourist, who has remained anonymous, for his ‘heroic act’ that likely prevented more people being attacked.
The attacker was himself wounded in the leg and transferred to the medical wing of a detention unit in The Hague, where he is now being held in solitary confinement.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
