A Jewish school in Amsterdam has been damaged by an explosion, in what the city’s mayor described as a “deliberate attack against the Jewish community”.
Mayor Famke Halsema said in a press release that the explosion that occurred early Saturday in a residential neighborhood in the southern part of the city caused limited damage, as police and firefighters quickly arrived at the scene.
There is no information about anyone being injured. Police had CCTV footage of a man carrying an explosive device, Halsema said.
Security at synagogues and Jewish institutions in the Dutch capital had already been stepped up after an overnight arson attack at a synagogue in central Rotterdam on Friday.
Later that day, police arrested three men aged 18 to 19 and a 17-year-old boy. Authorities stopped a car that was driving suspiciously near another synagogue, the description of the driver matched that of one of the perpetrators of the synagogue attack.
Police said they were launching a “large-scale investigation into this serious incident” and appealed for witnesses to come forward. “It is not yet clear whether the suspects planned to detonate explosives or set fire to another synagogue,” a police spokesman said in a statement. No probable cause was given for the arrest.
An unverified video showing an explosion near a building similar to the targeted synagogue was circulated on social media on Friday, and police said they were examining it as part of their investigation.
In neighboring Belgium, an explosion caused a fire at a synagogue in Liège on Monday.
Halsema said of the school attack: “This is a cowardly act of aggression against the Jewish community.
Jewish people in Amsterdam increasingly face anti-Semitism. this is unacceptable.”
The US and Israeli attacks on Iran and Tehran’s response have raised concerns about possible attacks against Jewish communities around the world.