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A private security guard was shot dead and two police officers were wounded early on Tuesday when about 30 masked men opened fire in Overasselt, a village in the eastern Netherlands roughly 85 miles southeast of Amsterdam. As Al Jazeera reported, Dutch police then arrested 34 people in a nationwide manhunt.
Officers had gone to a house in the village at about 4am to check reports of suspicious activity. A large group of masked men opened fire the moment the first unit arrived, regional police chief Jolanda Aalbers told reporters. The two wounded officers were taken to hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
The man who died was 51 years old and had been hired to guard the property that the group targeted. Police seized weapons, data storage devices and several vehicles at the scene. Security-camera footage broadcast by the newspaper De Telegraaf showed dozens of people in ski masks carrying weapons before they fled, and investigators are now studying the images.
Those arrested came from the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Algeria, according to prosecutors quoted by The Associated Press. Their identities and any charges were not released. Officers from across the country joined the search, and national police chief Janny Knol called the violence "unprecedented."
Investigators believe the shooting is tied to a long-running conflict. The same house was shot at a dozen times in a single attack last year, and two people were convicted over that incident. Dutch media linked Tuesday's violence to the network of Jos Leijdekkers, a fugitive drug boss known as Bolle Jos and one of the country's most wanted men.
The Netherlands is a major entry point for cocaine arriving through its ports, a trade that has fueled an increasingly violent criminal underworld and a growing synthetic-drug industry. Justice Minister David van Weel said police acted swiftly against a life-threatening situation and condemned the attack. The investigation continues, and prosecutors have not confirmed a motive.
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