DATE=5/6/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-289484

TITLE=NETHERLANDS SHOOTING (S)

BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON

DATELINE=BRUSSELS

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Right-wing Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn has been shot and killed by an unidentified gunman. V-O-A correspondent Roger Wilkison reports the attack came nine days before national elections in which Mr. Fortuyn and his party - known as Pim Fortuyn's List Party -- was expected to win a substantial share of the vote.

TEXT: Mr. Fortuyn was shot at a media complex in the town of Hilversum, south of Amsterdam, just after giving a radio interview.

Dutch radio reported he was shot six times in the head, the neck and the chest. He died soon after the attack.

The controversial politician, who had been campaigning on an anti-immigration platform, was critical of the Netherlands' growing Muslim community and described Islam as -in his words - a backward culture.

Two months ago, his newly formed party stunned the country by polling 35 percent of the vote in local elections in Rotterdam. The city has a big immigrant population.

The 54-year-old former sociology lecturer and magazine columnist cut a flamboyant figure, driving around in a Rolls-Royce and living an openly homosexual life style.

/// OPT TO END ///Dutch radio says police believe Mr. Fortuyn's attacker is still inside the Hilversum media park. It reports that several people saw him shoot the politician and chased him as he fled. (Signed)

NEB/RW/KL/FC