Manhunt after car carrying explosives crashes in police chase

Police are trying to trace the occupants of a car that crashed at high speed in Amsterdam while carrying high explosives, causing dozens of homes to be evacuated.

The black BMW M1 was being pursued by Dutch police after their German colleagues spotted it at the scene of a cashpoint explosion in Fürth, Hessen, around 250km from the Dutch border.

Witnesses described how it was driven into Nierkerkestraat, Osdorp, at high speed, hit a speed bump and crashed. The occupants, at least one of whom was armed, got out and fled on foot.

A specialist explosives team quickly arrived on the scene and cleared all houses within a 100m radius after discovering bomb-making materials in the vehicle.

Residents had to stay out of their homes for nearly nine hours following the incident, which happened at around 1pm on Tuesday, until the car was taken away on a tow truck.

Police appealed for witnesses to come forward, as well as anyone with information about the storage of explosives in the area. It is not clear how many people were in the car.

Cross-border gangs

German police said no money was stolen in the attack on the cash machine, but the building where it was located was badly damaged by the blast.

The Osdorp area of Amsterdam is known to be a base for gangs that carry out cross-border raids on German cashpoints, which tend to contain more money than those in the Netherlands because cash is still widely used there.

Last month seven people were injured and an entire block of flats had to be evacuated after an explosion in a basement gym next to the Osdorper Ban which was caused by home-made explosives.

Police arrested two men aged 24 and 23, both of whom were among the casualties. Prosecutors said they were suspected of planning explosions and possessing explosive materials.