Gunmen have shot dead a suspected gangster in Amstelveen, killing him next to his car outside the Health City gym. A four-year-old child was in the back of his car at the time but was unharmed.

Police say the killing, which took place shortly after 5pm, is likely to be gang related. According to the Parool the victim was a Dutch Moroccan criminal named Rachid Kotar, a member of a gang embroiled in a long-running conflict with the Netherlands’ most wanted man Ridouan Taghi, but this has not been confirmed.

A silver Volkswagen van, thought to be the getaway car, was found burned out in Duivendrecht a short while later.

Sources told the paper that Kotar must have been followed for some time because he had been living abroad.