Homeland Security

DATE=12/4/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-297089

TITLE=NETHERLANDS / BOMBS (S)

BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON

DATELINE=BRUSSELS

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Police in the Netherlands are searching for bombs at 10 stores belonging to the Swedish-owned furniture retailer IKEA after explosive devices were found at two of them. V-O-A's Roger Wilkison reports all 10 stores have been shut down and their employees sent home until further notice.

TEXT: Dutch police found bombs at IKEA branches in Amsterdam and the southwestern town of Sliedrecht. They also blew up a suspect package found at a third IKEA outlet in the city of Utrecht.

Two policemen were injured when the explosive device found at the Sliedrecht store blew up at the town's police station.

The main offices of the Dutch news agency, A-N-P, near The Hague, were also evacuated after police received a warning that a bomb might have been planted in the building.

An A-N-P editor, Thomas Verfuss, describes the scene at the news agency.

///VERFUSS ACTUALITY///

Our main office has been evacuated this morning. People were standing in the street. The police cordoned off a perimeter of several hundred meters around the building.

///END ACTUALITY///

So far, police have given no indication of how and from whom they received the warnings abut the explosive devices. But Dutch authorities say there is no reason to suspect any link to international terrorist organizations. (signed)

NEB/RW/AWP