Norway – The man linked to a deadly bombing and shooting spree in Norway has confessed to firing weapons on an island near the nation’s capital and has been charged under the country’s terror laws, police confirmed Saturday.
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As the Nordic massacre’s death toll rose to at least 92 people on Saturday, information continued to trickle out about the mass tragedy and the man thought to be behind the carnage.
It has also been learned that the man purchased a six-ton cache of fertilizer before the twin attacks, the supplier revealed on Saturday.
The suspect was arrested on Friday, shortly after a gunman dressed as a police officer opened fire on a youth camp on Utoya, an island just outside Norway’s capital.
Police said the gunman was shooting for an hour and a half before surrendering to a SWAT team that arrived 40 minutes after they were called. The police said they chose to drive because their helicopter wasn’t on standby.
“There were problems with transport to Utoya,” said Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim. “It was difficult to get a hold of boats, but that problem was solved when the SWAT team arrived.”
At least 85 were killed on the island, but police said there are still four or five people missing.
Sponheim said the missing may have drowned and divers have been searching the surrounding waters.
Survivors of the shooting reported the gunman ordered people to come closer before pulling out weapons and ammunition from a bag and opening fire.
One survivor, 21-year-old Dana Barzingi, said that several victims pretended to be dead to survive. But after shooting the victims with one gun, the gunman shot them again in the head with a shotgun, he said.
Police also linked the suspect to the explosion that had ripped through an Oslo government building just hours before. On Saturday, police confirmed that a car bomb was responsible for the explosion.
A police official told The Associated Press that the bomb used was “some kind of Oklahoma City-type” device made of fertilizer and diesel fuel. Officials are not sure what kind of detonator was used.
The Oklahoma City bomb was a 4,000 lb fertilizer-and-fuel-oil bomb that detonated in front of a federal building in 1995, killing 168 people.
Though police haven’t released the suspect’s name, local news outlets have identified the man as 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik.
Norwegian media reports describe Breivik as a right-wing extremist opposed to both Islam and multiculturalism, and speculate that his farming business would have access to fertilizer that could be used to construct explosives.
On Saturday, a spokeswoman for agricultural supplier Felleskjopet confirmed that the company told police shortly after Breivik emerged as a suspect that he had bought six-tons of fertilizer.
As the police continue to investigate, Norway is grieving the twin attacks which are said to be the deadliest bombing the country has seen since the Second World War.
Flags around Oslo were lowered to half-mast on Saturday. Residents also gathered at a local cathedral to light candles and lay flowers.
The army could be seen patrolling the streets, which is unusual for Norway — a country which on average sees just 40 murders a year and the average police officer doesn’t carry a firearm.
In the wake of the Nordic massacre, European police announced Saturday that they’re establishing a task force of more than 50 experts to help northern European countries address terrorism.
The group, which is based in The Hague, hopes to help Norway with their investigations in the coming weeks, task force spokesperson Soeren Pedersen told The Associated Press.
Timeline
The following is a timeline of events of the Norwegian bombing and shooting attacks on Friday, according to police and eyewitnesses. All times are local.
• 3:26 p.m. A car bomb explodes outside the prime minister’s office in central Oslo.
• Around 4:50 p.m. Vacationers at a campground begin to hear shooting across the lake on Utoya, an island where the youth wing of the Labour Party is being held.
• 5:38 p.m. The SWAT team is dispatched from Oslo. It drives, deciding that starting a police helicopter would take longer.
• By 6 p.m. The team arrives at the lake, but it struggles to find a boat to cross over.
• 6:20 p.m. The SWAT team arrives on the island.
• 6:35 p.m. The suspect puts down his weapons and surrenders to police.
This is a terrible tragedy and my thoughts and prayers are with the family. Just curious that when a tragedy that does not involve Yidden, how many comments of condolences will be seen from yidden. Trust me, not too many
Yidden better wake up and start protecting their facilities with armed guards. By the way to #1 , Norway has my condolences.
they do not believe in g-d neither do the sweds,l know because l have spoken to tourists in manhatten visiting nyc,they do not believe they have a soul.amazing
Tea baggers? You are insane.
we had some in Israel too
A few hours ago everyone on VIN was sure it was Muslims. Plenty of people were getting really bigoted and hateful. Then we find out it was a White Conservative Native-born Christian Norwegian with a long history of hating Muslims. All of a sudden the news services stopped calling it a “terrorist attack”. Now it’s a lone nut.
According to Europol of the terrorist attacks in Europe since 2005 less than 1% were in any way related to Islam or Muslims. It was almost all less exotic homegrown political and criminal sorts.
Prejudice bad. Bigotry can kill. We yidden who have been on the receiving end so many times should avoid jumping to conclusions.
So much for all those armchair analysts who rushed to crow and to tell us that:
1. The atrocities were the work of Palestinian extremists, and
2. That Norway “deserved” such a מכה because of its alleged anti-Semitism.
No wonder people all over the world shake their heads and say that we are עם קשה עורף
Based on his record it seams that this killer was very much pro Israel and anti palestinian
It’s too bad they will never figure out the connection bewteen these events and their banning schecitah and that Hashem’s will dicatates both.
I am sympathetic to the families of these slain people, created as they are in Hashem’s image, but the fact that it happened in Oslo, the place where the deals were signed that have caused so much bloodshed and misery for our people, I cannot help but see as significant and a kind of divine punishment.