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| Norway after the terror attacks |
FT.com - At least 91 people were killed in an apparent twin terrorist attack on Norway, after a large bomb was detonated outside government buildings in Oslo and a gunman opened fire at a summer camp attended by hundreds of young people.
Police said at least seven people were killed on Friday by the suspected car bomb. A Reuters report citing Norwegian police also said at least 84 were killed at the youth camp, organised by Norway’s ruling Labour party, on an island near Utoya, 40km north-west of Oslo.
Motivation for the devastating attacks – the most serious terrorist assault in Europe since 52 people were killed on the London transport system in 2005 by Islamist extremists – was unclear.
Police detained the suspect, a 32-year old, white “ethnic” Norwegian who was named by local media as Anders Behring Breivik, and charged him for the island killing spree and the Oslo bomb blast.
Roger Andresen, deputy police chief, would not speculate on the man’s motives but told a news conference: “He describes himself as a Christian, leaning toward right-wing Christianity, on his Facebook page.”
Jens Stoltenberg, Norwegian prime minister, told a press conference on Saturday: “What happened at Utoya is a national tragedy. Not since the second world war has our country seen a greater crime. Compared with other countries I wouldn’t say we have a big problem with right-wing extremists in Norway. But we have had some groups, we have followed them before, and our police is aware that there are some right-wing groups”.
Earlier, Mr Stoltenberg said the country had been “shaken by evil” but would not be cowed by terrorism.
“I have a message for whoever attacked us and those behind it. It’s a message from all of Norway: You will not destroy us. You will not destroy our democracy or our ideals for a better world.”
Hanne Skartveit, political editor at newspaper Verdens Gang, whose offices are across the street from the site of the Oslo bomb, said: “Norway’s lost its innocence. From today, this will be a different Norway. Both with respect to internal security, in an open and democratic country, and how we look at the world. It is a heavy day.”
US president Barack Obama led international condemnation of the attack. “It’s a reminder that the entire international community holds a stake in preventing this kind of terror from occurring,” he said.
TV2 said police raided a house where the detained suspect lived. The street was cordoned off because of fears of explosives at the property.
Thomas Hegghammer, terrorism expert at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, a think-tank linked to Norway’s armed forces, said questions would now be raised as to whether the police had neglected the dangers of rightwing extremism, if the suspect proved to be part of such a network.
In an annual threat assessment published in January, the Norwegian security service said “far-right and far-left extremist communities will not pose a serious threat to Norwegian society in 2011”. However it said there had been an increased level of activity within some of these groups during 2010 and predicted this could rise further.
The Oslo blast, which was heard by people at least 7km away, caused extensive damage to a complex of government buildings housing the prime minister’s office and the ministries of finance and petroleum. Police said it was most likely a car bomb although this could not yet be confirmed.
Broken glass and other debris rained down on surrounding streets and many people could be seen afterwards receiving treatment for serious injuries.
Norway’s public broadcaster NRK quoted one of its journalists as saying: “The whole building shook. We thought it was an earthquake. There are people on the streets bleeding. There is glass everywhere. There is chaos here. The windows are blown out of all the nearby buildings.”
Another eyewitness reported seeing “a column of flames” rise as high as the fifth floor of surrounding buildings after the bomb detonated.
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