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Relative of Madrid bomber held over Amsterdam plot
Ed Harris13 Mar 2009
Dutch police have arrested seven people suspected of preparing a terrorist attack in Amsterdam, including a relative of one of the attackers who died in the 2004 bombings in Madrid.
Mayor Job Cohen said police were acting on an anonymous tip that warned an Ikea store might be targeted. "It wasn't a regular bomb warning, but a warning of a planned action aimed at creating casualties in shops," Mr Cohen said. Police received the tip from an unregistered mobile phone in Belgium. They shut down a shopping street near the ArenA soccer stadium and a concert by American band The Killers was cancelled.
District attorney Herman Bolhaar said six men and one woman, aged 19 to 64, were arrested. All are Dutch nationals of Moroccan ancestry. One suspect is related to "a person who exactly five years ago was involved in the attack in Madrid", he said.
