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Will Tram Shooting Attack Spread Beyond Utrecht? i24 on Mar 18, 2019 DAILY DOSE | A man in the Dutch city of Utrecht opened fire on a tram, killing three and wounding several others. Police suspect …More
Will Tram Shooting Attack Spread Beyond Utrecht?

i24 on Mar 18, 2019 DAILY DOSE | A man in the Dutch city of Utrecht opened fire on a tram, killing three and wounding several others. Police suspect the it is a terror attack and are hunting the perpetrator down. Journalist Jessy de Cooker and our Daniel Tsemach analyze.

Story:

Three people were killed, and at least nine others were injured after at least one gunman open fired in a tram station in the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands in what is suspected to be a terrorist incident.

'At this stage, we can confirm three deaths and nine wounded, three of them seriously,' Utrecht Mayor Jan van Zanen said in a video statement on Twitter.

With the suspect(s) still at large, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told a brief press conference in The Hague that there were 'several wounded and possible deaths,' adding that the Netherlands would 'never give way to intolerance'.

The police named a person of interest as 37-year-old Gokman Tanis of Turkish origin.

There were painfully few details as investigations were still ongoing and local police was keeping a tight lid on the circumstances of the incident, which happened at 10:45 am local time.It took place on 24 Oktoberplein, a busy traffic junction, with a tram stop.

Tram services were back in action, after being discontinued throughout the city, as the situation took national importance, with the government's cabinet meeting cancelled, and crisis meetings under way.

It was later reported that other shootings had also taken place. There were unconfirmed reports of an incident at the Tivoli concert venue.

Airports and train stations were on high alert, with police cars screaming through city, trying to find the perpetrators.

According to eyewitnesses quoted in Dutch media, as many as four gunmen shot down at least seven people, and then escaped on foot towards the town's central train station.

At least one further wounded was undergoing resuscitation, according to journalists on the ground.

Anti-terrorism units were dispatched to the scene, as well as three helicopters, and the terrorism alert was raised to its highest level. No arrests had as yet been made.

Police said terrorism was a line of inquiry, but did not discount other possibilities.
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