THE HAGUE (AFP).- Dutch police on Sunday shot dead a knife-wielding man who tried to stab pedestrians outside an art museum in the northern city of Groningen.

The shooting happened around 5:30 pm (1630 GMT) outside the university city's Groninger Museum, when the man threatened bystanders with a number of large knives, police spokesman Ernest Zinsmeyer told AFP.

"When police approached the ma, he fled. Officers fired a warning shot but the man tried to stab bystanders as he ran away and police shot him," he said.  

The man then fell into a canal near the museum and was pronounced dead by the time police retrieved him from the water.

Zinsmeyer said the suspect had not yet been identified and his motives were unknown.

He said although a terror attack could not be ruled out, it was unlikely. The incident was being investigated.

As in other countries, Dutch police have been on high alert since a series of Islamist attacks left 17 people dead in Paris earlier this month.





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