Hague– A PCR test center in the Netherlands was the target of an alleged attack with an explosive placed outside the building, which exploded early this Wednesday, causing material damage, although no one was injured, according to the Dutch police, who has cordoned off the area to investigate what happened.
The test point is located in the city of Bovenkarspel, in the province of North Holland, about 60 kilometers from Amsterdam, and the police assume that this center was the target of the explosive placed in front of the building and that it exploded at 6.55 a.m. local (05.55 GMT), according to a brief statement from the Police of the region, which speaks of several windows broken by the explosion.
At the time of the incident, there was only one security guard in the building, but no one was injured, not even among passers-by who passed through the area and who spoke of a “very strong explosion”.
The regional health board (GGD) described the explosion as “an aggressive and intimidating destruction” of a test center, which is “a cowardly act of destruction that affects us all.”
“For more than a year, we have relied heavily on the people on the front lines, and now this is happening. What madness! I just spoke to the GGD, who, of course, are terribly shocked. We are on the side of the people who work hard to get us out of this crisis ”, added the Acting Minister of Health, Hugo de Jonge.
For his part, the mayor of the town, Ronald Wortelboer, stressed being “very shocked” and “very sad” by what has happened, and explained that, in the Netherlands, “you can totally disagree, but the words and not things like this ”.
A team from the explosives disposal service has traveled to the scene of the incident to verify that there is no more explosive material in the area and, according to the police, it will take several hours to secure the area, clean up the damage and investigate the incident, for what the area is cordoned off and all appointments scheduled for today have been canceled, according to public television NOS.
The circumstances surrounding what happened are unclear, but it is not the first time this year that incidents have been reported against test centers in the Netherlands.
On January 23, and during the tensions over the introduction of the curfew, a PCR post in Urk, in the province of Flevoland, burned down.
A few days later, the Dutch Police found flammable material with fireworks placed in another test center in Hilversum, North Holland, but the explosive was detonated in time.