Dutch film-maker shot dead

A Dutch film-maker who made a controversial film about Islamic culture has been shot dead in Amsterdam, police said.

Police spokeswoman Elly Florax said the victim was Theo van Gogh, who had made headlines recently with a film critical of some elements of Islamic culture.

Florax said a suspect was arrested after a shoot-out with police in a local park.

The suspect and a police officer were injured in the shoot-out, none of them seriously, Florax said. The suspect, who was not identified, was taken to a hospital where he was being guarded by police.

Van Gogh stirred controversy in the Netherlands with a short film that tells the fictional story of a Muslim woman forced into a violent marriage, raped by a relative and brutally punished for adultery.

The film, Submission, was scripted by a right-wing politician who had renounced the Islamic faith of her birth.

Several Muslim groups and newspapers criticised it as a shallow provocation that lacked insight.