Dutch police arrest 7 suspected of planning attack in Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch police on Thursday arrested seven people suspected of preparing a terrorist attack in Amsterdam, including a relative of one of the attackers who died in the 2004 bombings in Madrid.

Mayor Job Cohen said police were acting on an anonymous tip that warned an Ikea outlet or other stores in the southeast of the city might be targeted.

“It wasn’t a regular bomb warning, but a warning of a planned action aimed at creating casualties in shops,” Cohen said.

“Men were planning to put explosives in the shops and wanted to cause casualties in busy places,” he said.

Police received the tip Wednesday night from an unregistered cell phone in Belgium. The tip also included names of one suspect and locations for police to search.

Early Thursday, authorities shut down a major Amsterdam shopping street near the Arena soccer stadium and sealed off the nearby Ikea store. A concert by the American band “The Killers” was canceled.

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