Shots are fired at Saudi Arabia embassy in The Hague
- Nobody was injured and detectives were investigating the incident on Thursday
- Dutch officers were alerted at around 6am to shots being fired at the building
- Several bullet casings were scattered around and bullet holes left in windows
- It comes just hours after an attack on Western diplomats in Saudi capital Jeddah
Several shots have been fired at Saudi Arabia‘s embassy in The Hague.
Dutch police rushed to reports of gunfire at 6am but the shooter fled the scene before they arrived and detectives are now investigating.
Nobody was injured but numerous bullet holes were blown through the building’s front windows and the street outside is littered with dozens of shell casings.
The motive for the shooting is unclear, and police have appealed for witnesses.
Bullet holes through a front window of the Saudi embassy in The Hague on Thursday morning as a forensic investigator photographs the evidence
Dutch police rushed to reports of gunfire at 6am but the shooter had fled the scene before they arrived and detectives are now investigating (pictured: Dutch officers work in the crime scene outside the building this morning)
Bullet holes through a front window, as many as 20 such holes have been left in the building after the shooting at around 6am Thursday
An officer marks up bullet casings scattered across the street outside the front of the embassy
Police officers at the scene this morning following reports of gunfire at The Hague
A police vehicle at the scene this morning blocking off access to the city centre street
It comes just hours after a bomb attack on Western diplomats attending a Remembrance Day service in the Saudi capital of Jeddah which injured four, including one Briton.
The commemoration attended by the British, Greek, Italian and US consulates was hosted by the French delegation which condemned the ‘cowardly, unjustifiable attack.’
France has been the focus of Islamist terror attacks since Emmanuel Macron’s staunch defence of freedom of expression following the beheading of a schoolteacher by a jihadist over Charlie Hebdo cartoons.
In the Netherlands this morning officers tweeted: ‘Just before 6am (0500 GMT) we received a message that a shot had been fired at a building in The Hague. There were no injuries.’
The scene has been sealed off while forensic teams analyse up to 20 bullet holes left in the building and as many shell casings on the street outside.
The police have not yet confirmed the number of shots fired or what type of firearm was used.
The shooting occurred in an affluent neighbourhood close to the city centre where many countries have their consulates and less than a mile away from the International Court of Justice.
A forensic investigator shines a torch over bullet casings scattered across the street
A bullet hole through a window pane at the Saudi embassy in The Hague on Thursday morning
Detectives gather evidence outside the Saudi embassy this morning
The Hague is the seat of international justice and home to several United Nations tribunals and judicial bodies founded after the Second World War.
This includes the ICJ and the International Criminal Court.
It is the UN’s fourth major centre after New York, Geneva and Vienna.