Twin shooting and bomb attacks left at least 17 reported dead in Norway on Friday as a gunman disguised as a policeman opened fire at a youth camp and a bomb blast tore through government buildings. Many were also reported wounded from the explosion in central Oslo and the shooting at a summer school meeting of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's ruling Labour Party on an island outside the capital.
Authorities were reeling, with police saying they had no clue who or what was behind the attack, but the gunman behind the shooting had been arrested. The United States and European leaders immediately denounced the attacks and vowed solidarity with Nato member Norway - an enthusiastic participant in international military missions that has forces in Afghanistan and is participating in Western air strikes in Libya.
Local media quoted officials as saying 10 people had been killed in the attack on a youth camp on Utoeya, an island just outside Oslo where Stoltenberg had been due to give a speech on Saturday to the 560 people attending.
"We have received information on the death of 10 people while seven have been wounded" in the shooting, police spokesman Bjoern Erik Sem-Jakobsen was quoted as saying by the Nettavisen news website. "This figure is still not definitive but that is what we have been able to establish so far."
Witnesses described scenes of panic and horror after the gunman, who media reports said was disguised as a police officer, opened fire on the youth gathering. "I saw a lot of people running and screaming, I ran to the nearest building and hid under a bed," Emilie Bersaas, 19, told Britain's Sky News.
"It was very terrifying. At one point the shooting was very very close to the building, it actually hit the building, the people in the next room screamed."
"It is kind of unreal, especially in Norway," Bersaas said. "This is something we hear about happening in the US." Police said they had detained the gunman and that his identity was known, but refused to say if he was a Norwegian citizen.
Local media quoted witnesses describing the gunman as northern European and armed with an automatic rifle, but the reports were not confirmed. Norwegian police said they feared there could also be explosives on the island.
Reports of the island shooting emerged shortly after a blast tore through the government quarter in central Oslo, home to the prime minister's office, other ministries and some of the country's leading media.
Police said a "bomb" had been behind the "powerful explosion". Stoltenberg was safe and there were no reports of other senior government officials being killed or wounded. The government was to hold a crisis meeting later Friday.
"We can confirm that we have seven dead and two have been seriously injured" in the bomb attack, a police spokesman told reporters at a briefing in Oslo. Several dozen were also wounded, police said.
"We have no main theory, we don't even have a working theory," a police official said separately. "We already have enough to do to get an understanding of the situation." Police did say however that they believed the two attacks were connected. "There are good reasons to believe that there is a link between the events," police commissioner Sveinung Sponheim told reporters in Oslo. Police also said that the gunman was probably linked to the bombing.
Oslo's mayor Fabian Stang said the capital was struggling to come to terms with the idea that it had joined the list of cities targeted by bombers.
"Today we think about those people living in New York and London who have experienced this kind of thing," he told Sky. "I do not think it is possible for us to understand what has happened today but hopefully we will be able to go on and that tomorrow Oslo will be a peaceful city again."
Comments
Comments are closed.