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'Catastrophic' twin attacks kill 87 in Norway
Saturday July 23, 2011 12:08:58 PM,
IANS
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Oslo:
At least 87 people were killed Friday in "catastrophic" twin
attacks in Norway - a massive bomb explosion in the capital here
and a shooting at a governing Labour Party youth camp, police
said. This is the first time such an apparent terrorist incident
has happened in this Scandinavian nation of five million people,
one of the least densely populated countries in Europe.
A 32-year-old ethnic Norwegian has been arrested for opening fire
at the youth camp. He is also believed to have been behind the
bombing here, police said.
"There has never been a similar situation like this in Norway,"
the NRK TV channel quoted police chief Oystein Maeland as saying
during a news conference. "It's a black day for Norway. This is an
event of a catastrophic scope."
At least 80 people died in the shooting at the youth summer camp
on the Utoeya island, Maeland said.
Xinhua news agency said a gunman wearing police uniform and with
police identification landed on the small island, about 40 km west
of Oslo, shooting people at the camp two hours after the deadly
bomb explosion rocked the government building quarters in the
Norwegian capital.
The gunman in his 30s was described to be carrying a pistol and a
rifle with telescopic sight. He started shooting a few minutes
after he landed on Utoeya in the Buskerud county, Xinhua said.
Eyewitnesses said the man fired several shots into participants of
an annual event of the Workers' Youth League. Some terrified young
people jumped into water for safety.
"We have no adequate record of the number of injured now. Many of
those seriously injured are under treatment," the police chief
said.
The death toll in the bomb attack at the government headquarter is
reported to be seven. The mayor's office told CNN about 90 people
had been injured in the attack.
Police said early Saturday that the deadly blast that shook the
Oslo city centre on Friday was caused by a car bomb.
The arrested man, an Oslo resident, is believed to belong to
right-extremist groups in eastern Norway.
Stratfor, the global intelligence think tank, said in an early
analysis: "The significance of the events in Norway for the rest
of Europe will depend largely on who is responsible, and the
identity of the culprits is still unclear.
"A transnational militant plot against a European country in the
contemporary context could also be significant for European
defence policy. When the 2004 Madrid attack and 2005 London attack
happened, many in Europe argued that the attacks were a result of
European governments' support for US military operations in the
Middle East. This is no longer really the case for Europe,
although European forces are still in Afghanistan."
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called on Norwegians to
remain calm and not to let panic spread.
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