According to Dutch police, there have been nearly 250 incidents of explosive attacks on private homes and businesses so far this year, surpassing the total number of attacks in all of 2022, as

reported by broadcaster NOS on Sunday.

While most of the attacks have occurred in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, incidents have been reported in various parts of the country, from Limburg to Groningen, according to data from the national police coordination team.

These attacks are primarily linked to the drug trade, although blackmail is also frequently involved, noted NOS. The majority of the 72 apprehended suspects are young individuals, with two-thirds of them being under the age of 23. Alarmingly, some of the perpetrators have been minors, as young as 14 or 15 years old.

The nature of the attacks has also evolved, with the use of more potent explosives and a shift from leaving hand grenades at doorsteps to constructing homemade firework bombs that cause significant damage, revealed NOS.

"We are witnessing an escalation in the level of violence, which is deeply concerning," stated a police spokesperson in an interview with NOS. Photo by Oxyman, Wikimedia commons.