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Bombs Found at IKEA Stores in Netherlands
Two bombs were found in outlets of the IKEA home goods chain, and two police explosives experts were wounded when one of the devices detonated as they tried to disarm it, authorities said Wednesday. All 10 stores in the Netherlands belonging to the Swedish-based company were closed while police searched for more explosives. Investigators declined to give details on the type of explosives involved, how they were discovered, or about who was responsible but said they didn't suspect terrorism. "Can't be terrorists, we're Dutch!" The bomb found in the Sliedrecht IKEA branch, near the port of Rotterdam, blew up at a police station where it had been taken to be defused. One officer was briefly treated at a hospital for minor injuries; the other was injured in the eye. The other bomb was found in an outlet in Amsterdam. Police destroyed a third suspicious package that they initially said was a bomb but turned out to be harmless. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende cautioned against assuming terrorism was behind the bombs and said they appeared to be the work of a criminal organization. The discovery of the bombs coincided with the first terrorism trial in the Netherlands since the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, but police said there was no apparent connection. ``We don't believe this is a terrorist-related action,'' said Amsterdam police spokesman Remco Gerretsen. Hands over ears, eyes closed, chanting "Noooooooo". Two Algerians, a Frenchman and a Dutchman of Ethiopian origin with alleged ties to al-Qaida face are accused of conspiring to attack American targets in Europe, including the U.S. Embassy in Paris and a military depot in Belgium. A verdict is expected within three weeks. "But they are unrelated, really they are!" Sweden's ambassador to the Netherlands, Bjoern Skala, told Swedish radio that IKEA on Tuesday ``received threatening letters from an unknown person, which indicated that there were explosive charges in the IKEA stores.'' IKEA said in a statement it was closing all its Dutch stores ``to protect the safety of our employees. There are strong indications there may be more explosives.'' In an apparently unrelated incident, the offices of the national Dutch news agency ANP were evacuated after a bomb threat, police said. No explosives were immediately found. No link to terrorism, huh. That's not what Michiel Visser thinks: "It turns out that al-Qaeda has very specifically warned the Dutch government against continued operations against its Dutch network. Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, leader of the London-based radical Islamic Al Muhajiroun organization issued a threat against The Netherlands on 29 November. According to the Dutch TV-program "2Vandaag" the sheikh said that The Netherlands would be targeted with a major terror campaign if it didn't stop "arresting muslims" immediately." Posted by: Steve 2002-12-04 |
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