Hostage crisis in Netherlands ends as all people held captive in cafe released

AMSTERDAM

The hostage crisis in the Netherlands has ended after all the people taken hostage in a café have been released, according to police.

The last hostage has been released, and one person has been arrested, the police said on X, adding: "We cannot share more information at this time."

What happened?

Several people were held hostage in a building in the town of Ede, in central Netherlands, police said on Saturday.

A large number of police and fire trucks were dispatched to the area due to the hostage-taking incident in a cafe in Ede, the Netherlands.

Hundreds of houses in the vicinity were also evacuated.

People in a cafe in the city of Ede were taken hostage and the incident was not terrorist in nature, Dutch police said in a statement on X.

Police asked people to stay away from the city center and not to go around the cafe to watch the incident.

Around 150 houses in the area were evacuated as a precautionary measure and people were evacuated to a safe place, according to the statement.

Earlier, police reported that three hostages were released early in the morning but the incident is ongoing.