This screen grab of an undated photograph on Facebook.com shows the central suspect of the Norway terror attacks, named by sources as Anders Behring Breivik, July 23, 2011. Photo by Facebook via Getty Images

Twin attacks in Norway, the deadliest since World War II, left 91 people dead after a gunman killed 84 people at a youth camp on an island near Oslo and a bomb explosion in the center of the capital killed seven.
A 32-year-old Norwegian man with an Oslo residence and farm in the eastern part of the country was arrested in the attacks, police said at a briefing in Oslo today. Authorities declined to confirm local media reports identifying the suspect as Anders Behring Breivik.

“He has been charged in both the explosion in the center of the government area and also the shooting,” Roger Andresen, deputy Oslo police chief, told reporters today. The two counts of “dangerous crimes to society” mean he could receive 21 years in prison, Norway’s toughest punishment, he said.

The blast in central Oslo yesterday afternoon shattered windows at the office of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and other government buildings. Hundreds were attending the camp organized by the youth wing of Stoltenberg’s Labor Party on the island of Utoeya, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Oslo when the shooting rampage took place. The suspect was arrested on the island. Stoltenberg said the attacks wouldn’t interrupt the functioning of government.

Living Hell

“Not since World War II has our country experienced a greater tragedy,” Stoltenberg said in a speech. “For me, Utoeya was the paradise island of my youth that was transformed into hell.”

The suspect’s farm in the small eastern town of Rena is listed as Breivik Geofarm on his alleged Facebook page. Andresen described the man as a Christian fundamentalist with right-wing tendencies. He had no previous record of offenses, police said.

On his alleged Twitter account, Breivik made his one and only one post on July 17, writing: “One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests.”

Two policemen stood outside the 4-story brick apartment building listed as Breivik’s address in a quiet residential area of west Oslo. An officer, who declined to be named due to the ongoing investigation, said all persons entering the building were being checked and a forensic team was due to arrive. He declined to confirm that Breivik resided at the premises.

Hemen Noaman, a 27-year-old accounting consultant living in the building, said Breivik’s mother resided in the apartment and that her son would often visit her. “I have seen him, but I never spoken with him,” said Noaman, who has lived 10 years in the building, adding that “the mother has been gone since yesterday or the day before.”

Norway Mourns

Municipalities and cities throughout Norway were setting up crisis centers to receive relatives of the victims from the Utoeya shootings. From Tromsoe in the far north of the rugged Nordic country with 4.9 million inhabitants to Oslo in the south, flags were flown at half-mast in remembrance of the victims.

“We counter terror and violence with more democracy,” Labor Party Youth leader Eskil Pedersen said at a press conference today. “It will change Norway, hopefully for the better.”

Police, who would not speculate about a motive, “see a connection between the attack in Oslo center and the attack on the island because both are at political sites,” Anders Frydenberg, an Oslo police spokesman, said by telephone. “That’s the connection between the two attacks.” He declined to say whether police believe the current suspect was the only one involved in the crimes.

Global Sympathy

Neighboring Sweden had a brush with what police treated as a possible terrorist attack in December when a suicide bomber injured two people in central Stockholm.

“From a Swedish perspective, we’re following the ongoing development,” Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said. “There is still a lot that is unclear about what has happened.”

Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen sent a statement conveying his “deepest sympathy and solidarity” with the Norwegian people.

U.S. President Barack Obama said the attacks showed that “no country large or small” is immune to such violence. In comments to reporters at the White House, Obama said the bombing demonstrates the need for enhanced intelligence sharing.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he condemned “in the strongest possible terms the heinous acts of violence in Norway.” In a statement, he called the acts “cruel and cowardly.”

Windows Shattered

Before the explosion, a car drove into the government quarter, the police said in a statement. No government ministers were hurt, Stoltenberg told broadcaster NRK. Eirik Borg, a back office worker at stockbrokerage Fearnley Fonds based near the scene, said he saw smoke billowing from the government quarter after hearing the blast.

“We felt the impact very hard throughout the building,” Borg said in a phone interview. “All the windows were breaking and we actually thought lightning hit our roof. From our terrace, we saw white smoke.”

The bombing initially sent Norway’s currency and stocks lower. The krone weakened as much as 1 percent against the dollar and was trading 0.4 percent lower at 8:30 p.m. local time yesterday. Against the euro, the krone was little changed at 7.7851 after losing as much as 0.4 percent. The benchmark OBX stock index fell as much as 0.4 percent before closing little changed.

The country’s Ministry of Petroleum suffered “massive damage” as a consequence of the blast, spokesman Haakon Smith- Isaksen said by phone. Norway is the world’s seventh-largest oil exporter.

“There was a huge explosion, the windows just blew out,” Smith-Isaken said.(Bloomberg)

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 A suspected far-right gunman in police uniform killed at least 84 people in a ferocious attack on a youth summer camp of Norway's ruling Labour party, hours after a bomb killed seven in Oslo.

Witnesses said the gunman, identified by police as a 32-year-old Norwegian, moved across the small, wooded island of Utoeya in a lake northwest of Oslo on Friday, firing at young people who scattered in panic or tried to swim to safety.

Police detained the tall, blond suspect, named by local media as Anders Behring Breivik, and charged him for the killing spree and the bombing of government buildings in Oslo.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, capturing the shock this normally quiet nation of 4.8 million is experiencing, said: "A paradise island has been transformed into a hell."

Deputy Police Chief Roger Andresen would not speculate on the motives for what was believed to be the deadliest attack by a lone gunman anywhere in modern times.

"He describes himself as a Christian, leaning toward right-wing Christianity, on his Facebook page," Andresen said.

Norwegian media say the Oslo bomb was made of fertilizer and that the suspect owned a company, Breivik Geofarm, which a supply firm said he had used to buy the material.

"These are goods that were delivered on May 4," Oddny Estenstad, a spokeswoman at farm supply chain Felleskjoepet Agri, told Reuters. "It was 6 tonnes of fertilizer, which is a small, normal order for a standard agricultural producer."

It was not clear if Breivik, a gun club member according to local media, had more than one weapon or whether he had stocked ammunition on Utoeya, where police found explosives.

Initial speculation after the Oslo blast had focused on Islamist militant groups, but it appears that only Breivik -- and perhaps unidentified associates -- was involved.

Home-grown right-wing militancy has generated occasional attacks elsewhere, notably in the United States, where Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people with a truck bomb at a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, among many world leaders, condemned the Norway attacks. "This tragedy strikes right at the heart of the soul of a peaceful people," she said.

Andresen, the deputy police chief, said the casualty toll could rise. "As of now we have 84 dead at Utoeya," he said. "In Oslo, with the explosion and the impact it had, we are not yet sure if that number is final. At Utoeya, the water is still being searched for more victims."

Police have not said how many people were wounded.

SCENES OF TERROR

Teenagers at the island camp, 30 km (20 miles) northwest of Oslo, fled screaming, many leaping into the water when the assailant began spraying them with gunfire, witnesses said.

"I just saw people jumping into the water, about 50 people swimming toward the shore. People were crying, shaking, they were terrified," said Anita Lien, 42, who lives by Tyrifjord lake, a few hundred meters (yards) from Utoeya.

"They were so young, between 14 and 19 years old."

Survivor Jorgen Benone said: "It was total chaos...I think several lost their lives as they tried to get over to the mainland.

"I saw people being shot. I tried to sit as quietly as possible. I was hiding behind some stones. I saw him once, just 20, 30 meters away from me. I thought 'I'm terrified for my life', I thought of all the people I love.
"I saw some boats but I wasn't sure if I could trust them. I didn't know who I could trust any more."

"We had all gathered in the main house to talk about what had happened in Oslo. Suddenly we heard shots. First we thought it was nonsense. Then everyone started running," one survivor, a 16-year-old called Hana, told Norway's Aftenposten.

"I saw a policeman stand there with earplugs. He said 'I'd like to gather everyone'. Then he ran in and started shooting at people. We ran down toward the beach and began to swim."

Hana said the gunman fired at people in the water.

Many hid in buildings or fled into the woods as shots echoed across the island hosting the annual camp for the youth wing of the Labour party, dominant in Norway since World War Two.

Stoltenberg said he knew many of the victims personally. "I know the young people and I know their parents," he said.

"And what hurts more is that this place where I have been every summer since 1979, and where I have experienced joy, commitment and security, has been hit by brutal violence -- a youth paradise has been transformed into a hell."

"What happened at Utoeya is a national tragedy," he said. "Not since World War Two has our country seen a greater crime."

Stoltenberg later flew by helicopter to a hotel in the town of Sundvollen where many survivors were taken for counseling and police interviews. Relatives converged on the hotel.

After Stoltenberg's arrival, police detained and handcuffed a man outside the hotel. The man told reporters he had been stopped because he had a knife in his pocket.

Breivik's Facebook page appeared to have been blocked by late Friday. Earlier, it had listed interests including bodybuilding, conservative politics and freemasonry.

TWITTER MESSAGE

Norwegian media said he had set up a Twitter account a few days ago and posted a single message on July 17 saying: "One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests."
About 10 policemen were outside the address registered to his name in a four-storey red brick building in west Oslo.

The Norwegian daily Verdens Gang quoted a friend as saying he became a right-wing extremist in his late 20s. It said he expressed strong nationalistic views in online debates and had been a strong opponent of multi-cultural ism.

Oslo was quiet but tense after Friday's mid-afternoon bombing which broke the windows of the prime minister's building and damaged the finance and oil ministry buildings.

The district attacked is the heart of power in Norway. But security is not tight in a country unused to such violence and better known for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize and mediating in conflicts, including the Middle East and Sri Lanka.

A Utoeya survivor said she was still in shock. "I cannot squeeze out one tear. I cannot believe it," wrote 23-year-old student Khamshajiny Gunaratnam on her blog.

She said participants in the summer camp were just digesting news of the Oslo bombing when they heard shooting.

"'Who the hell is that joker?' we thought. Who would have thought that it actually wasn't a joke?"
Terrified, Gunaratnam hid in toilets in the main building and then fled to the shore. "We fell and stumbled through a lot of bushes and large rocks. I got many scratches."

When the shooting came closer, she jumped into the cold water and was eventually picked up by a rescue boat.

"Even when we had reached the boat, I could not relax...He could still hit us with his machinegun!" Gunaratnam wrote. I did not feel safe. Not at all."

Eskil Pedersen, leader of the Labour Party youth group, responded defiantly to the massacre. "We will not give up in the struggle for what we believe in -- we will come back to Utoeya."

He said former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland had been on Utoeya earlier on Friday but left by boat before the attack. (Reuters)

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