Suspect in Amsterdam stabbings likely had terrorist intent, say prosecutors

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -A man who went on a stabbing rampage in Amsterdam last Thursday, wounding five people, is suspected of their attempted murders with a likely terrorist intent, Dutch prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The suspect, who police said checked in to an Amsterdam hotel last Wednesday, is a 30-year-old Ukrainian national from the Donetsk region. Local authorities would not give more information on the suspect’s identity.

“The man is suspected of five counts of attempted murder or manslaughter with a terrorist motive,” prosecutors said.

He was arrested quickly after the incident with the help of bystanders, sustaining an injury to his leg.

The victims were a 26-year-old man from Poland, a 73-year-old Belgian woman, a 19-year-old woman from Amsterdam and a 67-year-old woman and a man, 69, both American.

While the Polish man was released from hospital by Friday, the other victims remain hospitalized but in stable condition, prosecutors said in the statement.

(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Beniot Van Overstraeten; editing by Bart Meijer and Bernadette Baum)