By Heleen van Geest
THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Three Dutch police involved in an operation to arrest unidentified suspects have been injured in a blast, police say, amid mounting tension after the murder of a filmmaker by a suspected Islamist extremist.
"The operation is still going on," national crime squad spokesman Wim de Bruin said on Wednesday.
He declined to comment on the nature of the raid or to say whether there was a suspected terror link. He would also not say whether there was any connection between the operation and last week’s murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh.
"An arrest team went into action this morning. There was an explosion and three policemen were injured," De Bruin said. Another spokesman said the three policemen had been taken to hospital, while one of them was released with minor injuries.
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Dutch police have arrested 10 people in their investigation into Van Gogh’s death last Tuesday and are still holding six, including the prime suspect Mohammed B., who has been charged with murder and suspected links to a terrorist group.
Prosecutors declined to comment on Tuesday on media reports that the authorities are hunting a Syrian they suspect of involvement in the Van Gogh murder, threats against a politician and for planning attacks on government buildings.
Officials said the airspace over The Hague would be closed on Wednesday amid the ongoing operation. They sealed off the area after the explosion and an anti-terrorism unit was on the scene. It was not clear if anyone had been arrested.
"We are awaiting further police intervention," Hague police spokesman Frans van Rijnswou said.
Dutch television said people were still in the building. Fire engines and riot police were on the scene. Journalists were kept behind a cordon well away.
MOUNTING TENSION
The Netherlands has seen a series of apparent tit-for-tat attacks since Van Gogh’s murder, including an arson attack on a Muslim school on Tuesday night, where the words "Theo R.I.P." were scrawled on the walls along with a "White Power" sign.
The primary school in the southern Dutch village of Uden was completely gutted in the blaze. A small bomb also damaged a Muslim school in Eindhoven on Monday.
At least eight mosques and four churches have been targeted by arson attacks since Van Gogh was shot and stabbed as he cycled to work in Amsterdam last Tuesday.
A little-known Islamist group threatened to hit the Netherlands on Tuesday if the attacks on Muslim buildings did not stop. The country has received several threats from Islamic militants over the presence of 1,300 of its troops in Iraq.
Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk met Dutch Muslim groups on Tuesday to discuss ways to halt the escalating tension. The Netherlands is home to almost a million Muslims or about 6 percent of the population.
Van Gogh enraged Muslims with his criticism of Islam, in particular a recent film which said Islam promoted violence against women and showed Koranic verses written on a woman’s naked body. He was cremated on Tuesday evening.
