Dutch hostage – live: Gunman arrested after ‘threatening to detonate bomb’ in nightclub

Three people have been released, police said in a statement.

Onlookers gathered near the establishment where a gunman was taking several people hostage and threatened to detonate a bomb, media reports said.

It was unclear how many people were still being held after three employees were seen by reporters fleeing the area with their hands above their heads.

There was no indication of a terrorist motive, police said, as special units were deployed to the scene.

Ede is a rural market town 53 miles south east of Amsterdam.

A hostage drama at a nightclub in the eastern Netherlands ended on Saturday when police arrested a man wearing a balaclava mask after he exited the club.

“The last hostage has just been released. One person has been arrested,” a police statement said. “We cannot share more information at this time.”

Several hostages taken by ‘armed’ man in eastern Dutch town of Ede

The owner of the Cafe Petticoat nightclub has said that all hostages either currently or formerly held in his bar were his employees, according to local media.

Two men, one of them wearing a balaclava mask, exited a nightclub in the eastern Dutch town of Ede where several people had been taken hostage, news agency ANP reported.

One was put in handcuffs by police, the agency said.

Ede Mayor Rene Verhulst has said that a hostage situation is continuing in the town despite the release.

“A terrible situation for all these people,” Mr Verhulst said. “My concern and thoughts go out to them and their loved ones. I hope that the situation is now resolved quickly and safely.”

A man suspected of holding hostages in the Cafe Petticoat nightclub southeast of Amsterdam entered the bar at around closing time, armed with guns and explosives, and threatened to blow the place up, Dutch newspaper Telegraaf has reported.