Several people taken hostage in Dutch cafe

By Anadolu staff

AMSTERDAM (AA) – Several people are being 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.

Police reported that three hostages were released early in the morning but the incident is ongoing.

*Writing by Zeynep Cetin in Istanbul