Stabbing attack injures 3 minors on busy shopping street in the Hague - 'No indication of terrorism' say media - UPDATE: suspect arrested

RT
Sat, 30 Nov 2019 19:46 UTC

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Police cordon off a street in Den Haag following a stabbing

Three people have been injured in a stabbing attack in The Hague. The incident took place on a busy shopping street in the center of the city.

Police are still on the lookout for the attacker, who struck at the heart of the city's shopping district during the Black Friday rush.

The suspect is described as a lightly colored man, between 45 and 50 years old, dressed in a gray tracksuit. In the Netherlands, "lightly colored" usually refers to a person of North African or Middle Eastern descent.

Videos shared on social media showed crowds of panicked shoppers screaming and fleeing from the scene of the attack, as police arrived and cordoned off the street.

Local media reports suggest that the attack took place inside a department store.

The incident came several hours after an attacker in Britain stabbed several people near London Bridge, before he was subdued by passers-by and shot dead by police. The suspect was found to be wearing a fake explosive vest, and the knife rampage is being treated as a terrorist attack.

Comment: See: Convenient London Bridge Terrorist Attack Occurs Two Weeks Before General Election: UPDATES

Comment: Footage collated by RT:

Further RT reports that there's 'no indication of terrorism' nor of any motive, the victims of the attack were all minors and the suspect is still on the loose:

The three people injured in the stabbing spree on the Hague's busy shopping street are all minors, the police have said. They haven't confirmed or denied the suspect's link to terrorism, while media reports claimed there is none.

"All three victims of the stabbing at Grote Marktstraat are minors. We are in contact with their families," the Hague police have tweeted, without elaborating.

The latest statements suggest that the Dutch police are still looking for the suspect, described as a man in his late forties, and described as someone of North African or Middle Eastern descent.

No information on the suspect's motive has been shared.

However, the Dutch national broadcaster NOS has claimed that "at this moment there is no indication of a terrorist motive," citing its own sources.

Witness accounts and footage from the Hague's commercial district reveal scenes of panic, as people fled down the street. Several clips have been shot by a 16-year-old Emma Evers, who is apparently unrelated to the injured minors.

"I took this video, when I realized something was happening i started running and I was in panic because I couldn't find my mom," Evers tweeted in comments to her videos, adding that they reunited and ran inside a the shopping center thereafter.

A map of other incidents that occurred around Europe yesterday was shared on Twitter:

UPDATE: 1st December 2019 @ 15:30 CET

RT reports the suspect has been arrested but the motive is still unclear:

Police in the Dutch city of The Hague have arrested a 35-year-old homeless man, suspected of stabbing three minors on a busy shopping street in the city. He has been taken to a police station for questioning.

Police announced the arrest on Saturday evening. The man, reportedly of Middle Eastern or North African descent allegedly stabbed three minors in a department store during the Black Friday sales rush.

The suspect escaped following the attack, triggering a citywide police manhunt.

The attacker's motives remain unclear. Police have not yet ruled out terrorism, but media reports suggest that "there is no indication" of an extremist link.

It's notable that, while not directly related, there are similarities to a story from October, in Manhattan, where four homeless men were bludgeoned to death by another homeless man.