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Norway horror: Death toll continues to climb Jul. 23, 2011 01:32 AM Associated Press OSLO, Norway -- A Norwegian dressed as a police officer gunned down at least 84 people at an island youth retreat before being arrested, police said Saturday. Investigators are still searching the surrounding waters, where people fled the attack, which followed an explosion in nearby Oslo that killed seven. The mass shootings are among the worst in history. With the blast outside the prime minister's office, they formed the deadliest day of terror in Western Europe since the 2004 Madrid train bombings killed 191. Police official Roger Andresen told reporters that the total death toll was now 91 and that a suspect was in custody being questioned for both assaults and is cooperating with the investigators. Though police did not release his name, Norwegian national broadcaster NRK identified him as 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik and said police searched his Oslo apartment overnight. NRK and other Norwegian media posted pictures of the blond, blue-eyed Norwegian. "He is clear on the point that he wants to explain himself," Roger Andresen told reporters Saturday. National police chief Sveinung Sponheim told NRK that the suspected gunman's Internet postings "suggest that he has some political traits directed toward the right, and anti-Muslim views, but whether that was a motivation for the actual act remains to be seen." Andersen said the suspect posted on websites with Christian fundamentalist tendencies. He did not describe the websites in any more details. A police official said the suspect appears to have acted alone in both attacks, and that "it seems like this is not linked to any international terrorist organizations at all." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because that information had not been officially released by Norway's police. "It seems it's not Islamic-terror related," the official said. "This seems like a madman's work." Norway has not changed its threat level after twin attacks on the capital and a nearby island retreat, the justice minister said Saturday. Justice Minister Knut Storberget told reporters Saturday the government was in constant discussion with police and were continually assessing it. "The debate on the threat level is ongoing," Storberget said. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Saturday that he had spent many summers on the island of Utoya, which was hosting a youth retreat for his party. Utoya is "my childhood paradise that yesterday was transformed into Hell," he said at a news conference in the capital at which Storberget also appeared. Johan Fredriksen, another police official, said Saturday a SWAT team was put on standby after a bombing in Oslo. When asked how long it took the SWAT team to arrive at the island after the shooting began, Fredriksen said: "It takes the time it takes to drive fast." He said that was about 30 minutes. Police initially said about 10 were killed at the forested camp on the island, but some survivors said they thought the toll was much higher. Police director Oystein Maeland told reporters early Saturday they had discovered many more victims. Maeland said the death toll could rise even more. He said others were severely wounded, but police didn't know how many were hurt. The island is about 500 yards (meters) from one shore of Tyrifjorden lake, an oddly shaped body of water that is 15 miles (25 kilometers) at its longest and 8 miles (12 kilometers) at its widest.
Norway suspect bought 6 tons of fertilizer in May July 23, 2011, 4:08 a.m. A Norwegian man suspected of setting off a blast that killed seven in central Oslo and gunning down 84 youths at a political meeting on Friday bought 6 tons of fertilizer in May, a farm supply firm said Saturday. Some kinds of agricultural fertilizer have been used to make explosives. The suspect, identified by Norwegian media as Anders Behring Breivik, placed the order through his company, the supplier said. Breivik reportedly owns a farm on the outskirts of Oslo. "These are goods that were delivered on May 4," Oddny Estenstad, a spokeswoman at the agricultural supply chain Felleskjoepet Agri, told Reuters, without giving the exact type of fertilizer purchased. "It was 6 tons of fertilizer, which is a small, normal order for a standard agricultural producer." "I do not know him or the company, except that it is a company that has contacted us in a normal manner and ordered fertilizer and had it delivered," she said.
Norway gunman kept firing for 1½ hours on island by Ian MacDougall and Louise Nordstrom Associated Press - Jul. 23, 2011 11:58 AM OSLO, Norway - A gunman who opened fire on an island teeming with young people kept shooting for 1.5 hours before surrendering to a SWAT team, which arrived 40 minutes after they were called, police said Saturday. Survivors of the shooting spree have described hiding and fleeing into the water to escape the gunman, but a police briefing Saturday detailed for the first time how long the terror lasted - and how long victims waited for help. When the SWAT team did arrive, the gunman, who was carrying a pistol and an automatic weapon, surrendered, said Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim. "There were problems with transport to Utoya," where the youth-wing of Norway's left-leaning Labor Party was holding a retreat, Sponheim said. "It was difficult to get a hold of boats." At least 85 people were killed on the island, but police said four or five people remain missing. Divers have been searching the surrounding waters, and Sponheim said the missing may have drowned. Police earlier said there was an unexploded device on the island, but it later turned out to be fake. The attack followed a car bomb outside a government building in Oslo, where another seven people were killed. Police are still digging through rubble there, and Sponheim said there are still body parts in the building. Police have not identified the suspect, but Norwegian national broadcaster NRK say he is Anders Behring Breivik. They have said only that they have charged a 32-year-old under Norway's terror law. He will be arraigned on Monday when a court decides whether police can continue to hold him as the investigation continues. Authorities have not given a motive for the attacks, but both were in areas connected to the Labor Party, which leads a coalition government. Even police confessed to not knowing much about the suspect, but details trickled out about him all day: He had ties to a right-leaning political party, he posted on Christian fundamentalist websites, and he rented a farm where he amassed six tons of fertilizer. Police said the suspect is talking to them and has admitted to firing weapons on the island. It was not clear if he had confessed to anything else he is accused of. Police said he retained a lawyer, but the attorney did not want to be identified. "He has had a dialogue with the police the whole time, but he's a very demanding suspect," Sponheim said. Earlier in the day, a farm supply store said it had alerted police that he bought six tons of fertilizer, which is highly explosive and can be used in homemade bombs. Police and soldiers were searching for evidence and potential bombs at the farm South of Oslo on Saturday. Havard Nordhagen Olsen, a neighbor, told The Associated Press that Breivik moved in about one month ago, just next to his house and said he seemed like "a regular guy." Olsen said he recognized his neighbor in the newspapers this morning and admitted to "being under shock." Meanwhile, Mazyar Keshvari, a spokesman for Norway's Progress Party - which is conservative but within the political mainstream - said that the suspect was a paying member of the party's youth wing from 1999 to 2004. In all, 92 people have been killed in what Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said was peacetime Norway's deadliest day. The Oslo University hospital said it has so far received 11 wounded from the bombing and 19 people from the camp shooting. "This is beyond comprehension. It's a nightmare. It's a nightmare for those who have been killed, for their mothers and fathers, family and friends," Stoltenberg told reporters Saturday. Gun violence is rare in Norway, where the average policeman patrolling in the streets doesn't carry a firearm. Reports that the assailant was motivated by political ideology were shocking to many Norwegians, who pride themselves on the openness of their society. Indeed, Norway is almost synonymous with the kind of free expression being exercised by the youth at the political retreat. King Harald V, Norway's figurehead monarch, vowed Saturday that those values would not change. "I remain convinced that the belief in freedom is stronger than fear. I remain convinced in the belief of an open Norwegian democracy and society. I remain convinced in the belief in our ability to live freely and safely in our own country," said the king. The monarch, his wife and the prime minister led the nation in mourning, visiting grieving relatives of the scores of youth gunned down. Buildings around the capital lowered their flags to half-staff. People streamed to Oslo Cathedral to light candles and lay flowers; outside, mourners began building a makeshift altar from dug-up cobblestones. The Army patrolled the streets of the capital, a highly unusual sight for this normally placid country. The city center was a sea of roadblocks Saturday, with groups of people peering over the barricades wherever they sprang up, as the shell-shocked Nordic nation was gripped by reports that the gunman may not have acted alone. Police have not confirmed a second assailant but said they are investigating witness reports. The queen and the prime minister hugged when they arrived at the hotel where families are waiting to identify the bodies. Both king and queen shook hands with mourners, while the prime minister, his voice trembling, told reporters of the harrowing stories survivors had recounted to him. On the island of Utoya, panicked teens attending a Labour Party youth wing summer camp plunged into the water or played dead to avoid the assailant in the assault. A picture sent out on Twitter showed a blurry figure in dark clothing pointing a gun into the water, with bodies all around him. The carnage began Friday afternoon in Oslo, when a bomb rocked the heart of Norway. About two hours later, the shootings began at the youth retreat, according to a police official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because that information had not been officially released by Norway's police. The blast in Oslo, Norway's capital and the city where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded, left a square covered in twisted metal, shattered glass and documents expelled from surrounding buildings. The dust-clogged scene after the blast reminded one visitor from New York of Sept. 11. People were "just covered in rubble," walking through "a fog of debris," said Ian Dutton, who was in a nearby hotel. Asked whether all victims at Utoya died from gunshot wounds or if some had drowned, Stoere, the foreign minister, said "you will likely see a combination." A 15-year-old camper named Elise who was on Utoya said she heard gunshots, but then saw a police officer and thought she was safe. Then he started shooting people right before her eyes. "I saw many dead people," said Elise, whose father, Vidar Myhre, didn't want her to disclose her last name. "He first shot people on the island. Afterward he started shooting people in the water." Elise said she hid behind the same rock that the killer was standing on. "I could hear his breathing from the top of the rock," she said. She said it was impossible to say how many minutes passed while she was waiting for him to stop. At a hotel in the village of Sundvollen, where survivors of the shooting were taken, 21-year-old Dana Berzingi wore pants stained with blood. He said the fake police officer ordered people to come closer, then pulled weapons and ammunition from a bag and started shooting. Several victims "had pretended they were dead to survive," Berzingi said. But after shooting the victims with one gun, the gunman shot them again in the head with a shotgun, he said. "I lost several friends," said Berzingi, who used the cell phone of one of those friends to call police. An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the attack "is probably more Norway's Oklahoma City than it is Norway's World Trade Center." Domestic terrorists carried out the 1995 attack on a federal building in Oklahoma City, while foreign terrorists were responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Aerial images broadcast by Norway's TV2 showed members of a SWAT team dressed in black arriving at the island in boats and running up the dock. People who had stripped down to their underwear moved in the opposite direction, swimming away from the island toward the mainland, some using flotation devices. The United States, European Union, NATO and the U.K., all quickly condemned the bombing, which Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague called "horrific" and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen deemed a "heinous act." "It's a reminder that the entire international community has a stake in preventing this kind of terror from occurring," President Barack Obama said. Obama extended his condolences to Norway's people and offered U.S. assistance with the investigation. He said he remembered how warmly Norwegians treated him in Oslo when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II wrote to Norway's King Harald to offer her condolences and express her shock and sadness at the shooting attacks in his country. A U.S. counterterrorism official said the United States knew of no links to terrorist groups and early indications were the attack was domestic. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was being handled by Norway.
Norway Gun ControlI cut and snipped a few lines from here to give a short summary of Norway's gun control laws.To own a gun in Norway, one must document a use for the gun. By far, the most common grounds for civilian ownership are hunting and sports shooting, in that order. Other needs can include special guard duties or self defense, but the first is rare and the second is practically never accepted as a reason for gun ownership. Responsibility for issuing a gun ownership license is given to the police authority in the applicant's district. Rifle and shotgun ownership permission can be given to "sober and responsible" persons 18 years or older. For handguns, the lowest ownership age is 21 with no exceptions allowed. An applicant must have a clean police record in order to obtain an ownership license. The owner must always have a good reason to bring the weapon to a public place. Such reasons include transportation to a range or hunting area, transportation for repairs, or for maintenance and hobby activities. During transportation, the weapon must be empty and concealed, but not worn on the body. There is no apparent public desire to introduce a concealed carry permit at this point in time, and there is no such license available to civilians. Norway has a large population of hunters. Semi-automatic and bolt action rifles, as well as shotguns, make up the better part of the guns in civilian homes.
Lawyer: Norway suspect wanted a revolution Posted 7/24/2011 7:43 AM ET E-mail | Save | Print By Bjoern Amland And Sarah Dilorenzo, Associated Press OSLO, Norway — The man blamed for attacks on Norway's government headquarters and a youth retreat said he was motivated by a desire to bring about a revolution in Norwegian society, his lawyer said Sunday. Though he told his lawyer that he acted alone, police said Sunday they were conducting an operation in a residential neighborhood of Oslo. Police spokesman Anders Fridenberg would give no other details about the action. Survivors of the massacre have said there were two assailants, and police have said they were looking into those accounts and had not ruled out a second suspect. A manifesto published online -- which police are poring over and said was posted the day of the attack -- ranted that the European elite, "multiculturalists" and "enablers of Islamization" would be punished for their "treasonous acts." Police have not confirmed that their suspect, 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik, wrote the document, but his lawyer referred to it and said Breivik had been working on it for years. Police and his lawyer have said that Breivik confessed to the twin attacks, but denied criminal responsibility for a day that shook peaceful Norway to its core and was the deadliest ever in peacetime. He has been charged with terrorism and will be arraigned on Monday. In all, 92 people were killed and 97 wounded. There are still people missing at both scenes. Six hearses pulled up at the shore of the lake surrounding the island on Sunday, as rescuers on boats continued to search for bodies in the water. Body parts remain inside the Oslo building, which housed the prime minister's office. Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim said a forensics expert from Interpol would join the investigation on Sunday. Other offers of international assistance have been turned down. Norway's King Harald V and his wife Queen Sonja and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg joined mourners on Sunday at Oslo Cathedral, where the pews were packed, and the crowd spilled into the plaza outside the building. The area was strewn with flowers and candles, and people who could not fit in the grand church huddled under umbrellas in a drizzle. The king and queen both wiped tears from their eyes during the service for "sorrow and hope." More was coming to light Sunday about the man who police say confessed to a car bomb at government headquarters in Oslo and then, hours later, opening fire on young people at an island political retreat. Both targets were linked to Norway's left-leaning Labor Party, and authorities have said Breivik held anti-Muslim views and posted on Christian fundamentalist websites. "He wanted a change in society and, from his perspective, he needed to force through a revolution," Geir Lippestad, his lawyer, told public broadcaster NRK. "He wished to attack society and the structure of society." Lippestad said Breivik spent years writing the 1,500-page manifesto that police were examining. It was signed "Andrew Berwick." The use of an anglicized pseudonym could be explained by a passage in the manifesto describing the founding, in April 2002 in London, of a group he calls a new Knights Templar. The Knights Templar was a medieval order founded to protect Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land after the First Crusade. Sponheim, the police chief, said there was no indication whether Breivik had selected his targets or fired randomly on the island. The manifesto vowed revenge on those who had betrayed Europe. "We, the free indigenous peoples of Europe, hereby declare a pre-emptive war on all cultural Marxist/multiculturalist elites of Western Europe. ... We know who you are, where you live and we are coming for you," the document said. "We are in the process of flagging every single multculturalist traitor in Western Europe. You will be punished for your treasonous acts against Europe and Europeans." Police spokesman John Fredriksen confirmed that the essay was posted the day of the attacks. The document signaled an attack was imminent: "In order to successfully penetrate the cultural Marxist/multiculturalist media censorship, we are forced to employ significantly more brutal and breath-taking operations, which will result in casualties." Witnesses at the island youth retreat described the way Breivik lured them close by saying he was a police officer before raising his weapons. People hid and fled into the water to escape the rampage; some played dead. While some on the island reported that there was a second assailant and police said they were looking into that, Lippestad, the lawyer, said his client claims to have acted alone. Police took 90 minutes from the first shot to reach the island -- delayed because they did not have quick access to a helicopter and struggled to find a boat once they reached the lake. Breivik surrendered when they reached him, but before 85 people died. Another seven were killed in the bombing. ___ DiLorenzo reported from Stockholm. Associated Press writers Ian MacDougall in Oslo, and Louise Nordstrom and Karl Ritter in Stockholm contributed.
In Norway gun ownership is common; violence and homicide are not The nation of about 4.9 million residents reports one of the lowest per-capita homicide rates in Europe. [ Wow! Norway is slightly smaller population wise then the state of Arizona ] By Ann Simmons Los Angeles Times Staff Writer July 23, 2011, 10:02 p.m. The shooting rampage that left at least 85 dead at a youth camp near Oslo stunned Norway, a nation of about 4.9 million residents who are far less accustomed to gun violence than the U.S. Authorities have described the 32-year-old man arrested in connection with the shootings, as well as a bombing in downtown Oslo that left at least seven others dead, as a far-right Christian fundamentalist. A chilling manifesto attributed to the suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, that was discovered Saturday contains an image of him pointing a weapon toward the camera. Homicide -- whether gun-related or otherwise -- is rare in Norway, which reports one of the lowest per-capita homicide rates in Europe. A report released last year by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services examined the role of mental illness in the actions of known perpetrators there, and also noted that in more than 80% of the killings the victims were known to the assailant. Gun ownership in Norway is common, although strict gun regulations and limitations are in place on ammunition for certain kinds of guns. According to GunPolicy.org, an Australian university-based website, the estimated number of guns held by civilians in Norway was 1.4 million in 2007, the most recent year for which the site has such statistics for Norway. Citing the "Small Arms Survey 2007: Guns and the City," published by Cambridge University Press, the website give the rate of private gun ownership in Norway as 31.32 firearms per 100 people, less than the reported rate in the U.S. of 88.82 firearms per 100 people. Five homicides committed with a gun were reported in Norway in 2005, the latest year for which the site has data confirming firearm-related murders in the country. In comparison, the U.S., which has a population more than 50 times greater, had 10,158 gun-related murders the same year, or 2,000 times that of Norway. A report last year by the Norwegian Broadcasting Co., or NRK, estimated that there are more than 1.5 million firearms in Norway, being used not only for hunting but also for shooting, one of Norway's most popular sports. The Norwegian Rifle Assn. has 32,000 members in 520 clubs, according to NRK, and Norwegian athletes are perennial favorites in international biathlon competitions, which combine skiing and target shooting. In addition to guns held legally, the NRK estimated another half a million had been smuggled into the county illegally. The rules for having a gun at home have been tightened in recent years, with gun safes becoming mandatory, according to local Norwegian news reports, The end cap of guns must be removed before storage, and those without a gun safe must remove components of the weapon before it is stored, essentially disabling it. In addition, Norwegians have been told the vital parts of the weapon should be locked up separately.
Norway suspect wanted European anti-Muslim crusade by Bjoern Amland and Sarah DiLorenzo - Jul. 24, 2011 10:07 AM Associated Press OSLO, Norway - The man blamed for the terrorist attacks on Norway's government headquarters and an island retreat for young people that left at least 93 dead said he was motivated by a desire to bring about a revolution in Norwegian society, his lawyer said Sunday. A manifesto he published online - which police are poring over and said was posted the day of the attack - ranted against Muslim immigration to Europe and vowed revenge on "indigenous Europeans," whom he accused of betraying their heritage. It added that they would be punished for their "treasonous acts." The lawyer for the 32-year-old Norwegian suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, said Sunday that his client wrote the document alone. While police said they were investigating reports of a second assailant on the island, the lawyer said Breivik claims also claims no one helped him. The treatise detailed plans to acquire firearms and explosives, and even appeared to describe a test explosion: "BOOM! The detonation was successful!!!" It ends with a note dated 12:51 p.m. on July 22: "I believe this will be my last entry." That day, a bomb killed seven people in downtown Oslo and, hours later, a gunman opened fire on dozens of young people at a retreat on Utoya island. Police said Sunday that the death toll in the shooting rose to 86. That brings the number of fatalities to 93, with more than 90 wounded. There are still people missing at both scenes. Police have not released the names of any of the victims. Police said Sunday that a police officer had been hired to provide security on the island on his own time. It was not clear who hired him or if he was on the island at the time of the attacks. Six hearses pulled up at the shore of the lake surrounding the island on Sunday, as rescuers on boats continued to search for bodies in the water. Body parts remain inside the Oslo building, which housed the prime minister's office. In a chilling allusion to the fact that the tragedy could have even been greater, police said Sunday that Breivik still had "a considerable amount" of ammunition for both his guns - a pistol and an automatic weapon - when he surrendered. Police and his lawyer have said that Breivik confessed to the twin attacks, but denied criminal responsibility for a day that shook peaceful Norway to its core and was the deadliest ever in peacetime. Breivik has been charged with terrorism and will be arraigned on Monday. Geir Lippestad, Breivik's lawyer, said his client has asked for an open court hearing "because he wants to explain himself." Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim said a forensics expert from Interpol would join the investigation on Sunday. European security officials said Sunday they were aware of increased Internet chatter from individuals claiming they belonged to the Knights Templar group that Breivik refers to in the manifesto. They said they were still investigating claims that Breivik, and other far-right individuals, attended a London meeting of the group in 2002. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the investigation. The officials would also not immediately confirm that they had been aware of Breivik as a potential threat. As authorities pursued the suspect's motives, Oslo mourned the victims. Norway's King Harald V and his wife Queen Sonja and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg crowded into Oslo Cathedral, where the pews were packed, and people spilled into the plaza outside the building. The area was strewn with flowers and candles, and people who could not fit in the grand church huddled under umbrellas in a drizzle. The king and queen both wiped tears from their eyes during the service for "sorrow and hope." Afterward, people sobbed and hugged one another in the streets, as many lingered over the memorial of flowers and candles. The royal couple and prime minister later visited the site of the bombing in Oslo. More was coming to light Sunday about the man who police say confessed to a car bomb at government headquarters in Oslo and then, hours later, opening fire on young people at an island political retreat. Both targets were linked to Norway's left-leaning Labor Party. Breivik's manifesto pillories the political correctness of liberals and warns that their work will end in the colonization of Europe by Muslims. Such fears may derive, at least in part, from the fact that Norway has grown increasingly multicultural in recent years as the prosperous Nordic nation has opened its arms to thousands of conflict refugees from Pakistan, Iraq and Somalia. The Labor Party retreat - which Prime Minister Stoltenberg fondly remembered attending summer after summer himself - reflected the country's changing demographic as the children of immigrants get more involved in politics. The assaults have rattled largely peaceful Norway, home to the Nobel Prize for Peace and where the average policeman patrolling in the streets doesn't carry a firearm. Norwegians pride themselves on the openness of their society and cherish the idea of free expression. "He wanted a change in society and, from his perspective, he needed to force through a revolution," Lippestad, the lawyer, told public broadcaster NRK. "He wished to attack society and the structure of society." Lippestad said Breivik spent years writing the 1,500-page manifesto entitled, "2083 - A European Declaration of Independence." It was signed "Andrew Berwick." The date was referred to later in the document as the year that coups d'etat would engulf Europe and overthrow the elite he maligns. Sponheim, the police chief, said there was no indication whether Breivik had selected his targets or fired randomly on the island. The manifesto vowed revenge on those it accused of betraying Europe. "We, the free indigenous peoples of Europe, hereby declare a pre-emptive war on all cultural Marxist/multiculturalist elites of Western Europe. ... We know who you are, where you live and we are coming for you," the document said. "We are in the process of flagging every single multculturalist traitor in Western Europe. You will be punished for your treasonous acts against Europe and Europeans." The use of an anglicized pseudonym could be explained by a passage in the manifesto describing the founding, in April 2002 in London, of a group he calls a new Knights Templar. The Knights Templar was a medieval order created to protect Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land after the First Crusade. A 12-minute video clip posted on YouTube with the same title as the manifesto featured symbolic imagery of the Knights Templar and crusader kings as well as slides suggesting Europe is being overrun by Muslims. Police could not confirm that Breivik had posted the video, which also featured photographs of him dressed in a formal military uniform and in a wet suit pointing an assault rifle. The video was a series of slides that accused the left in Europe of allowing Muslims to overrun the continent: One image showed the BBC's logo with the "C" changed into an Islamic crescent. Another referenced the former Soviet Union, declaring that the end result of the left's actions would be an "EUSSR." In London, the leader of Ramadhan Foundation, one of Britain's largest Muslim groups, said mosques are being extra vigilant in the wake of the attacks. Mohammed Shafiq told The Associated Press he was talking to other European Muslim leaders and British police about the need to increase security. The last 100 pages apparently lay out details of Breivik's social and personal life, including his steroid use and an intention to solicit prostitutes in the days before the attack. Also Sunday, police carried out raids in an Oslo neighborhood on suspicion of explosives. Police spokesman Henning Holtaas said no explosives were found and no one was arrested. Witnesses at the island youth retreat described how Breivik lured them close by saying he was a police officer before opening fire. People hid and fled into the water to escape the rampage; some played dead. Divers continued to comb the lake waters around the island where some 600 young people were attending a Labor Party summer retreat when it came under attack, amid fears people may have drowned while trying to swim to safety. Police said the bomb used in the Oslo blast was a mixture of fertilizer and fuel used to blow up a federal building in Oklahoma city in 1995. A farm supply store said Saturday they had alerted police that Breivik bought six metric tons of fertilizer, which can be used in homemade bombs. --- DiLorenzo reported from Stockholm. Associated Press writers Ian MacDougall and Derl McCrudden in Oslo, Louise Nordstrom and Karl Ritter in Stockholm and Paisley Dodds in London contributed.
Norway Suspect Hints That He Did Not Act Alone By STEVEN ERLANGER and ALAN COWELL Published: July 25, 2011 OSLO — The 32-year-old man accused of Norway’s worst massacre since World War II now maintains that two cells of extremists collaborated with him, court officials said here Monday, ordering him held in complete isolation to prevent him from interfering in police investigations into potential accomplices. He had previously said he acted alone. The defendant, Anders Behring Breivik, appeared at a closed arraignment hearing here as Norwegians paused in grief and self-examination for a minute’s silence to mark the deaths of at least 94 people in last Friday’s attacks. Hundreds of ordinary Norwegians filled the narrow streets outside the Oslo courthouse, some shouting angrily at cars they thought might have been carrying Mr. Breivik into the back entrance for his appearance. Judge Kim Heger said Mr. Breivik had been charged under criminal law with “acts of terrorism,” including an attempt to “disturb or destroy the functions of society, such as the government” and to spread “serious fear” among the population. Speaking at a televised news conference, Mr. Heger said that Mr. Breivik had acknowledged carrying out the attacks but had pleaded not guilty, because he “believes that he needed to carry out these acts to save Norway” and western Europe from “cultural Marxism and Muslim domination. Mr. Breivik was ordered to be held for the next eight weeks, the first four in solitary confinement. He told police what there were “two further cells in our organization,” reporters were told. Court officials would not elaborate. As noon approached, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg stood before crowds in central Oslo and urged them “to remember the victims. I hereby declare one minute’s silence across our country.” All that could be heard in some places was the cry of gulls as trams stopped, cars pulled over and Norwegians bowed their heads, standing with their hands clasped in prayer. Even after the formal 60 seconds, many seemed reluctant to move on, locked in private thoughts. Rescue workers in red suits and fluorescent jackets stood in silence on a lakeshore near Utoya island, where most of the victims, many of them youths, were killed. Mr. Breivik is the only person accused so far in the twin attacks last Friday, in which a huge bomb in central Oslo killed eight people and was followed soon after by a shooting rampage at a camp run by the ruling Labor Party on Utoya. The eighth death in Oslo was reported by The Associated Press on Monday. The judge said Mr. Breivik had wished to “give a sharp signal” and inflict “the worst possible loss” on the Labor Party, accusing it of failing to prevent a “mass importing of Muslims” into Norway. The investigation spread to southern France, where, The A.P. reported, gendarmes searched the house of the suspect’s father, Jens Breivik. It was not clear what the officers were looking for or might have found. The Norwegian police and security services meanwhile faced numerous questions about their slow response to the reports of shooting on Utoya, where the country’s governing Labor Party was holding its annual political summer camp, considered Norway’s nursery school for future leaders. The police took an hour to arrive on the island after the first reports, and officials said that it was hard to find boats and that their helicopters were only capable of surveillance, not of shooting down the killer. The court appearance was Mr. Breivik’s first since his capture. Through his lawyer, he had indicated that he wanted to use the hearing as a platform and had wished to appear wearing some kind of uniform. But the court rejected those requests. Shortly before Mr. Breivik’s arrival, the court said in a statement, “Based on information in the case, the court finds that today’s detention hearing should be held behind closed doors.” “It is clear that there is concrete information that a public hearing with the suspect present could quickly lead to an extraordinary and very difficult situation in terms of the investigation and security,” the court said. Mr. Breivik admits to the shootings and the bombing, his lawyer, Geir Lippestad, has told Norwegian news media, but he rejects “criminal responsibility.” Mr. Lippestad said that Mr. Breivik told him there were no collaborators in the attack, and that he alone wrote a mammoth manifesto — rambling from a hostile historical look at Islam to recipes (and price lists) for bomb manufacture to his family’s pressure on him to date. “He has said that he believed the actions were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary,” the lawyer said. “He wanted a change in society and, from his perspective, he needed to force through a revolution. He wished to attack society and the structure of society.” In central Oslo, people gathered quietly, some in tears, to contemplate the spreading blanket of bouquets in front of the cathedral. In the same place on Sunday, the royal family and average citizens alike, some traveling long distances, came to a memorial service for the dead in the cathedral. Long lines of people of all ages and colors waited patiently and quietly, some of them crying, to lay flowers or light candles. Someone propped up a radio on a post so those waiting could listen to the service inside. Some speculated that Mr. Breivik had wanted an open court proceeding on Monday in order to further publicize his anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim ideas, which center around the conservation of cultural and Christian values in the face of what he sees as a continuing effort by Islam to conquer Europe since the Ottomans were stopped at the gates of Vienna in 1683. His manifesto, called “2083 — A European Declaration of Independence,” seemed intended to reflect the 400th anniversary of the siege. Mr. Breivik was said by analysts to have been an occasional commenter on a blog, Gates of Vienna, which is topped by these words: “At the siege of Vienna in 1683 Islam seemed poised to overrun Christian Europe. We are in a new phase of a very old war.” According to the police, when he surrendered, Mr. Breivik was carrying an automatic rifle and a pistol and he still retained “a considerable amount of ammunition.” Doctors have said that he was apparently using dumdum bullets, expanding rounds designed to inflict the deadliest wounds possible victims. With no death penalty and the longest prison term possible in Norway set at 21 years, some Norwegians wondered how best to punish Mr. Breivik. Hedda Felin, a political scientist and human resources manager, said that giving Mr. Breivik an open platform “was more of a reward than a punishment.” He said in his manifesto that he considered killing Norway’s top journalists at their yearly meeting, she said, for not listening to him and his arguments. “He wants an open trial to be listened to, so journalists will now write about his ideas,” Ms. Felin said. “A real punishment would be not to write about him at all.” The crowd outside the court house where Mr. Breivik appeared Monday, perhaps as many as 1,500 people, was mostly quiet and pensive on a cold and misty day, as if in mourning. “People want to see face-to-face the guy who did this,” said Bernt Almbakk, 31, a lawyer. “It’s very personal. This is a small country.” Rather than anger, Mr. Almbakk said, “it’s the sorrow and the feelings — it’s been a very hard weekend with a lot of tears.” Harald Stanghelle, the political editor of the newspaper Aftenposten, said that “coming here is a way to participate.” Norway, he said, “is a country of grief and sorrow, trying to overcome a great shock. There’s a hope to participate and be together.” At one point, there was clapping in the crowd. From the front of the courthouse came a newly wed couple. “It was a glimpse of normal life in this film of horror,” Mr. Stanghelle said.
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