Dutch government raises its terror threat level

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Dutch government has raised its terror threat level from "limited" to "substantial," saying Dutch citizens are traveling to Syria to fight in the civil war and could return battle-hardened, traumatized and further radicalized, The Associated Press reports.

"The chance of an attack in the Netherlands or against Dutch interests abroad has risen," the country's National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism said in a statement Wednesday, March 13.

The warning comes just two months before hundreds of thousands of people are expected to descend on Amsterdam for the abdication of Queen Beatrix and investiture of her son, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, as king.

The government cites the threat posed by jihad fighters returning from Syria and signs of increasing radicalization among Dutch youth at home.

Substantial is the second-highest level on the four-step scale, just below "critical."