Dutch police hunt suspect filmed setting off a blast outside a Jewish school in Amsterdam

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AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch authorities were hunting Saturday for a person who was filmed setting off an explosion outside a Jewish school in Amsterdam. The mayor denounced the attack as a cowardly act of aggression against the city's Jewish community.

A City Hall statement said the overnight blast against the outer wall of the school in the Dutch capital's Buitenveldert district caused only limited damage. The person who detonated the explosion was caught on camera, it said.

Mayor Femke Halsema said in the statement that Amsterdam’s Jewish residents feel “fear and anger” and are increasingly being targeted by antisemitism.

"That is unacceptable. A school must be a place where children can learn safely. Amsterdam must be a place where Jews can live safely," she said.

Security around Jewish schools and other sites was reinforced after an explosion near a synagogue in Liege, Belgium, and a blast that caused a small fire at the entrance of a synagogue in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam on Friday.

“Two nights in a row, a cowardly attack with an explosive at a Jewish building. First in Rotterdam, now in Amsterdam," the Dutch justice and security minister, David van Weel, posted on X.

“The safety of Jewish institutions has our full attention. An investigation into the perpetrators is underway.”