A number of explosions have badly damaged the heavily guarded Amsterdam courtroom where the trial of alleged crime boss Willem Holleeder is due to begin on Monday morning.

According to ANP, the explosions took place at around 3am on the first floor of the court building in Osdorp. No-one was injured and the trial is expected to start as planned.
Holleeder and his associates are being tried on charges of blackmailing four property investors, including Endstra. Endstra was shot dead on an Amsterdam street in 2004.
Two anonymous witnesses are to be called in the trial of Holleeder which opens today, news agency ANP reports. The witnesses will say that property magnate Willem Endstra was himself behind a failed murder attempt and had blackmailed a business partner, according to lawyer Jan-Heijn Kuijpers.
Holleeder and his co-accused are also charged with being members of a criminal organisation. They were arrested in January 2006 and have been in custody since. The case is the biggest trial of its kind in the Netherlands in recent years.