THE HAGUE (AFP) - Dutch police arrested two people here as they ended a 14-hour siege on an apartment where suspected extremists had been holed up.
Three police officers were wounded, two of them seriously, in a grenade explosion during the anti-terror operation in The Hague.
Police said the raid was not linked to an investigation into the murder last week of filmmaker Theo van Gogh allegedly by an Islamic extremist but that is was part of a separate investigation into suspected terrorists.
The authorities would not identify the suspected terrorists holed up in The Hague or reveal their nationality
"One suspect was hurt in the shoulder. The investigation is ongoing," Wim de Bruin, a spokesman for the state prosecutor`s office said as he confirmed the two arrests.
Police evacuated five city streets and banned air traffic over The Hague after the suspects hurled a grenade that injured the three officers in the pre-dawn raid.
ANP news agency reported that police in the central region of Utrecht also arrested a man on Wednesday in an arrest that was tied to the police raid in The Hague.
Police believed several terrorist suspects were holed up in the apartment in a working-class district near the The Hague`s central Holland Spoor railway station, which is close to the seat of government and many of the foreign embassies.
NOS public television news said police searched the apartment for explosives with the help of remote-controlled devices.
"I heard shots. There is shooting," Irma Heijmans, a local resident, told NOS TV. "I heard about eight shots and now it`s quiet again. The police are watching the building."
The Hague prosecutor Han Moraal told reporters that two of the injured police officers were seriously hurt, although their lives were not in danger. He said the suspects fired at the police without causing injuries.
When police sent in a negotiator, one suspect shouted, "I am going to behead you," a resident said.
Other witnesses told NOS radio that police sharpshooters had taken up positions on nearby rooftops.
Nearby residents told ANP news agency they were jolted awake by a huge blast. "It was like a war movie being played out in front of my house," said Sylvia Cordia, 42.
The 14-hour siege in The Hague ratcheted up tension in the Netherlands, which has been on high alert since the November 2 murder of Van Gogh who was shot and knifed to death by a suspected Islamic radical after making a movie critical of Islamic treatment of women.
The brutal murder shocked traditionally tolerant Dutch society, fuelling ethnic tensions and sparking a spate of violence against Muslim mosques and schools.
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende on Wednesday warned people "not to get caught up in the maelstrom of violence".
Six people, including the alleged killer, have been arrested in connection with Van Gogh`s murder and provisionally charged with belonging to a "terrorist conspiracy".
Van Gogh`s suspected killer, Mohammed Bouyeri, who has dual Moroccan and Dutch citizenship, left a letter on Van Gogh`s body threatening several Dutch politicians and quoting from the Koran, police said.
11/10/2004 - 19:56 GMT - AFP