Dutch police have arrested seven men accused of planning a major terror attack with suicide vests, assault rifles and car bombs – led by an Iraqi arrested last year for trying to join ISIS in Syria.

The suspects were detained after flash raids by heavily armed police in Arnhem, about 62 miles south of Amsterdam, and Weert in the southern Netherlands, close to the borders of Germany and Belgium.

The alleged leader, named by Dutch media as Hardi N, was a 34-year-old Iraqi who was convicted last year for trying to join ISIS along with two other men. He wanted to attack a 'major event and make many victims', according to prosecutors.


In Arnhem, where Hardi N lived under a residency permit, police backed up by surveillance helicopters forced open a door to a house and threw smoke bombs inside. Explosions were heard, but it is not clear where these came from.

Two of the other suspects, who ranged in age from 21 to 34 and were found with five guns, had also been convicted of trying to join ISIS.
They were also trying to obtain AK47 assault rifles, handguns, bomb vests, grenades and raw materials for bombs and were looking for opportunities to train with the weapons, according to prosecutors.

In Weert, police also found a white hire van similar to those used in previous vehicle attacks, including London Bridge.


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6215817/Seven-arrested-major-terror-attack-plot-Netherlands.html

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