A suspected Amsterdam criminal was wounded during a shooting in the Amsterdam suburb of Diemen on Thursday afternoon.

Eyewitnesses told local broadcaster AT5 three men in balaclavas had been waiting for the victim in a silver car.

When the victim arrived on the scene in his own vehicle, they shot at it using a  kalashnikov rifle, riddling his car with bullets. The victim attempted drive off and escape and ended up in a nearby canal.

According to the Parool, the victim is career criminal Peter R, who is known as Pyotr and used to work as a bodyguard for another gangland boss who was shot dead in 2011.

Emergency services pulled the man from the water and his wounds were treated in an ambulance. He was then taken to hospital.