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1977 May 23rd - Northern Holland, village of Bovensmilde: Gunmen from the South Molucca islands (formerly part of the Dutch East Indies) seized a primary school and took more than 100 children and 6 teachers hostage;

1977 May 23rd - June 11th - The Netherlands, De Punt near the city of Groningen: 13 South Moluccans terrorists seized the Rotterdam-Groningen express with up to 80 passengers on board in open countryside; the train was brought to an abrupt halt when a young Moluccan girl pulled the emergency cord just before it reached its destination. Five heavily armed men then boarded the train from surrounding fields, released children and the elderly, separated women and men, and issued their demands: the Dutch government was to exert pressure on the Indonesians to grant independece to their homeland of South Molucca. In addition, several of their compatriots were to be released from Dutch jails, and a Boeing 747 jet was to be made ready at Schipol airport for their departure. To reinforce their demands, they murdered the train driver and dumped his body on the tracks.

Though negotiations were to drag on for over two weeks, the Dutch government considered a military option from the start. Dutch Marines of the BBE 'Special Operations Unit' were on the scene from the beginning. Food trolleys were allowed to go to the train, but the terrorists insisted the porters - supposed to be Red Cross personnel - had to be naked to prove they were unarmed. However, the porters were policemen gathering primary intelligence. Intelligence can also come from released hostages. Authorities were able to develop a detailed picture on the number of terrorists, the weapons carried, on their behavior, etc.

By 10 June the negotiations had stalled and the government decided to end the siege. Explosives had been planted in front of the train, to be used as a noisy diversion when the attack went in. At first light on 11 June, the BBE Marines formed into two bodies - one to storm the train, the other to provide covering fire. The attack platoon was equipped with Heckler and Koch MP5 submachine guns and Smith and Wesson handguns. Three members of the assault party placed explosive charges on the train doors, while others placed small scaling ladders against the carriages. At the begin of the operation, Dutch Starfighter aircraft flew over the train and kicked in their afterburners. The whole train shuddered with the vibration caused by the jets and the hostages threw themselves to the floor. The charges in front of the train were detonated, and the covering group opened fire with a blistering fusillade of fire.

The terrorists had no time to recover before the doors were blown in and the Marines stormed inside. Ordering the hostages to get down, the terrorists were engaged with accurate small arms fire. Seven were shot and six were captured; two hostages were killed in the firefight. Minutes later the train was secure and all the hostages freed.