Two teenagers were shot dead in Amsterdam’s Nieuw-West district at around midnight on Thursday, city police have confirmed.

One was a 16-year-old youth from Delft, the other an 18-year-old from Amsterdam. Both were staying at asylum seeker centres there, police said.

The teenagers were shot at by a bridge next to the Piet Wiedijk park close to the Sloterplas lake. Emergency services tried to save the boys at the scene but to no avail.

The park was sealed off overnight so police forensic teams could carry out checks using a metal detector. It has now been reopened to the public.

According sources in the Parool, the shooting may have been part of a broader conflict between teenagers from Syria and Spanish-speaking youths with a South American background. The investigation is in full swing, a police spokesman said.