AMSTERDAM: A stabbing attack in the heart of Amsterdam on Thursday seriously wounded four people, Dutch police said, adding that a suspect was in custody after being overpowered by a bystander. Police had earlier given a toll of five injured, as the suspect was also wounded in the incident.

“This afternoon, at around 3:50 (1450 GMT), a stabbing took place here in the Saint Nicolaasstraat. Four people were injured here, seriously injured. And a suspect was arrested, who was also injured,” a police spokesman told reporters. A bystander overpowered the suspect who was injured in the leg, police said in a statement on X.

The suspect “is receiving medical care and will be questioned at a later stage”, said the police spokesman. Police erected a cordon around the area where the stabbings took place, near the central Dam Square, where a trauma helicopter had landed to take victims to hospital.

The police urged anyone with images of the incident to upload them as evidence. They also called on people to avoid the area and let them carry out their investigation. Local media Het Parool cited a witness Marco Schoenmaeckers as saying that he saw one of the victims.

“I saw a knife of at least 10 centimetres (nearly four inches) sticking out of the girl’s back, between her shoulders,” Het Parool quoted Schoenmaeckers as saying.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2025