Last update - 00:00 17/10/2007
Dutch police kill man linked to plan to blow up El Al plane
By Cnaan Liphshiz, Haaretz Correspondent
A Dutch man of Moroccan descent was shot dead on Sunday by police in Amsterdam after stabbing two officers, the Netherlands' justice ministry said. Dutch media reported that police previously used the 22-year-old assailant as a witness after he had been suspected of plotting to blow up an El Al plane.
The director of the Hague-based Center for Information and Documentation Israel (CIDI) told Haaretz that the authorities had brought the attack on themselves by allowing the attacker, known to the media as Bilal B., to walk free.
On Monday, Dutch Channel 2 quoted an October 2005 report by the Netherlands' intelligence service saying that Bilal B. and a group of young Moroccans in Amsterdam were planning to shoot down an El Al plane at Schiphol Airport.
In the report, an informant is quoted as saying that Bilal's brother, Abdullah, was involved. Abdullah B. was arrested two years ago and released after 10 days.
Bilal was questioned and released as well and then testified about the Hofstad group an extremist Muslim organization connected to the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh.
At a press conference, the Dutch chief prosecutor acknowledged that in 2005 Bilal B. was believed to have had contacts with the Hofstad group. He said Bilal B. had been involuntarily committed to a mental hospital from April to August, and had been recommitted as recently as Friday. He was released with an escort on Sunday but slipped his guard before the attack.