Dutch police arrest hostage-taker

Dutch police arrested a 41-year-old man today who had held five employees hostage for several hours at the city council in Almelo, a Dutch town some 100 miles east of Amsterdam.

Police said the hostages were released unharmed.

The hostage-taker surrendered to police after agreeing to speak to negotiators, the police said in a statement.

A young man who said he was the hostage-taker's son told a local TV station that his father had been in dispute with city authorities over the license of a restaurant he ran.

One of the hostages was council member Bert Kuiper, who is responsible for public space and construction, police said. The other four hostages were city council employees.

Police said they were investigating possible links between the hostage-taker and fires at a city restaurant and in a car outside city hall.