Several blocks were sealed off in a mainly immigrant area
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A police anti-terror operation in The Hague has ended with the arrest
of two suspects after a violent 14-hour siege, Dutch officials say.
Three police officers were wounded in a grenade explosion earlier during the raid. Two of them remain in hospital.
One of the suspects held was injured in the shoulder, officials said.
Earlier, a Muslim school in Uden was burned down - part
of a spate of attacks after the murder of film-maker Theo van Gogh, a
critic of Islam.
Attacks have targeted Christian and Muslim buildings across the Netherlands.
Dutch NOS public television reported that police sent
remote-controlled devices into the apartment in The Hague to check for
explosives.
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Dutch views on Van Gogh's death
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Dutch media also reported that a third suspect had been arrested in Utrecht as part of the same investigation.
Van Gogh, murdered in Amsterdam a week ago, had received
death threats after the release of his latest film controversially
portraying domestic violence in Muslim societies. It showed images of a
semi-naked woman with Koranic script daubed on her body.
Six suspects, believed to be members of an Islamic
militant group, remain in custody, including the alleged killer,
26-year-old Mohammed Bouyeri, who holds dual Dutch and Moroccan
nationality.
Terror alert
The area where the Hague raid took place - near the
Holland Spoor train station - was sealed off and airspace immediately
over it was closed.
"At the moment of assault, a hand grenade was thrown at
the arrest team," said Hague Police Chief Gerard Bouwman. "It exploded
and several officers were hurt."
"Theo, rest in peace" was scrawled on the Uden school walls
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The building was surrounded by police in riot gear, fire engines, ambulances and special forces.
Police evacuated neighbours and they were bussed to local shelters.
Mr Bouwman said one of the injured police officers had
been briefly treated and sent home to rest, while the other two
remained in hospital, with one seriously wounded.
"No vital organs were hurt, but he suffered considerable injuries," he said.
Mr Bouwman earlier confirmed that police and the suspects had exchanged gunfire.
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told parliament that extremism was undermining democracy.
"We cannot let ourselves be blinded by people who seek
to drag us into a spiral of violence," he said, according to the
Associated Press news agency.
"It is the joint task of Muslims and non-Muslims to warn young people against radicalisation".
Dutch warning to EU
The Dutch Immigration Minister, Rita Verdonk, has warned
that EU countries are at risk, because of an increasing radicalism
among young Muslims.
She said member states must act urgently to improve the integration of foreigners.
The minister, whose nation holds the EU presidency, said
countries must ensure that immigrants learn the local language and
accept Western values, but she said the EU also needed to develop, in
her words, a common vision of integration.
Last week EU leaders agreed to create a common asylum system by 2010 to try to prevent illegal immigration into the EU.
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