8 November 2004

AMSTERDAM — The assassination of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh might have been ordered by a fugitive Spanish terrorist, it has been reported.

Spanish authorities are assisting Dutch justice officials investigate possible links between the arrested suspect, Mohammed B., and Islamic extremists in Spain, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday.

Van Gogh was killed in Amsterdam last week and a letter written in Dutch with some Arabic was left at his body warning Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali that she was next. B. was allegedly carrying a suicide farewell letter at the time of his arrest.

Police are holding six people in connection with Van Gogh's murder, including B., who was charged on Friday with the killing and membership of a group with "terrorist intentions". One of the suspects is a Spanish-Moroccan.

It had previously been revealed on 20 October that the Dutch intelligence service AIVD was investigating a Dutch link to eight people arrested for allegedly plotting a bomb attack on the High Court in Madrid.
 
An AIVD spokesman confirmed there was a Dutch link to the suspected Spanish terror cell and that the intelligence service was co-operating closely with Spanish authorities in that investigation.

Meanwhile, police believe that an explosion at an Islamic school in Eindhoven Monday morning was in retaliation to Van Gogh’s murder. The entrance to the school was badly damaged and windows of nearby homes were shattered. No one was injured in the blast.

A series of arson attacks have also been reported at Muslim mosques across the Netherlands in recent days, but there have been no reports of inter-community disorder.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Dutch news