AMSTERDAM, Netherlands xc2x97 An Islamic radical suspected of shooting and slitting the throat of a renowned Dutch filmmaker was questioned by investigators considering ties with foreign terrorists, possibly Al Qaeda (search), prosecutors said Thursday.

The 26-year-old suspect identified only as Mohammed B. was arrested minutes after Theo van Gogh’s brutal slaying while cycling on an Amsterdam street. He had a pistol in his pocket and was shot in the leg by police during a chase through a park.

Van Gogh had criticized some aspects of Islamic society in his work.

Eight other suspects aged 19-27, believed to be Islamic fundamentalists plotting a terrorist attack, remained in custody, said prosecution spokeswoman Dop Kruimel.

Six of the eight are of Moroccan ancestry, one is Algerian and the last has dual Spanish-Moroccan nationality, raising questions about their possible connection to foreign terrorist groups under surveillance in the Netherlands.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, Dutch authorities have repeatedly warned that the Netherlands could be a target. They say Muslim immigrant youths were being recruited to fight the Jihad, or Islamic holy war.

The defendant had a record violent offenses, and moved in a circle of radical Islamic fundamentalists, police said.

Kruimel said evidence retrieved from the crime scene and raids of five Amsterdam homes supported accusations of fundamentalism. Van Gogh was shot several times with a pistol at close range, his throat was slit, and a five-page note was jammed to his chest with a second knife.

Dutch media reported it was written in Arabic and was a call for Jihad against non-Muslims. He also reportedly had a testament in his pocket, indicating he anticipated being killed in the attack.

Investigations have not ruled out the possibility that Mohammed B. had links to the Salafia Jihadia group, held responsible for the Casablanca bombing, or Al Qaeda, she said. A Moroccan diplomat has traveled to the Netherlands and more than 75 detectives have been put on the case.

“Whether these individuals are connected to the Casablanca bombing has to be determined by the investigation,” Kruimel said.

Kruimel declined to give details about Mohammed B.’s interrogation by police, but said he will be arraigned and charged behind closed doors on Friday. Mohammed B. is recovering from a flesh wound at a prison hospital near The Hague.

Several of the eight suspects were detained and released in October 2003 in relation to suspected terrorist activity, Kruimel said.

Meanwhile, preparations were underway for a public cremation of Van Gogh in the Dutch capital on Tuesday.

The Dutch have reacted with outrage to the killing of the celebrity filmmaker who criticized Islam, testing the nation’s famed tolerance and straining already tense relations with the large Muslim immigrant population.

Mainstream Dutch Muslim groups condemned Tuesday’s murder, which some experts are calling the first act of Islamic terrorism in the Netherlands.

Members of parliament called for an emergency debate on the failure by security officials to prevent the attack.

“Is this a murder, or is this a terrorist attack?” said Jozias van Aartsen, leader of the conservative VVD party. “The facts must come out very, very quickly.”

Van Gogh released a fictional film in August about the mistreatment of Muslim women who were shown naked with texts from the Quran scrawled on their bodies. He was a widely published columnist and provocative social commentator who didn’t shy away using offensive language.

The killing of Van Gogh comes 30 months after the murder of populist anti-immigration politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002 and has drawn fresh drew outrage and fears that people will no longer dare to speak freely.