It is a miracle that no one was injured in the explosion that completely destroyed a house in Huizen last night. The house was not inhabited: it was closed by the mayor last week due to a serious threat to residents and nearby residents. The square was then guarded for several days by heavily armed police officers.
The surveillance by officers in bulletproof vests and with automatic weapons turned into ‘enhanced surveillance’ after a few days. That surveillance does not seem to have been sharp enough, last night one of the two closed houses was destroyed by a bomb.
Five neighboring houses were evacuated and the square was cordoned off. The neighborhood is scared and shocked after the attack. “First of the week there was a warning”, says a lady from the neighborhood, “and now they have really thrown it.”
Anxious
Here and there people are talking to each other in the street on the Sunday morning after the explosion. “This is very bad,” says one of them. “Until what time did you wake up?” someone asks a neighbor with small eyes. “I saw it get to half past four.”
The neighborhood is clearly fed up and scared after last week’s events. A neighbor says he expected something to happen. There is much speculation. “A reckoning in the criminal circuit”, one thinks. “Drug trafficking,” another suspects. And yet another thinks that Ridouan Taghi has to do with the attack.
Municipality consults
In a written statement, Mayor Niek Meijer said he was concerned: “First the closure and now this explosion. This leads to considerable concern and questions in the neighbourhood. I am very much aware of the impact this has on them. care now lies with the residents and local residents, and we are looking at what steps need to be taken with all parties involved.”
The municipal press release does not mention the security status of the Roef in the near future. It is expected that the evacuated residents will be able to return to their homes during the day.