Norway – Terrorism ravaged long-peaceful Norway on Friday when a bomb ripped open buildings including the prime minister’s office and a man dressed as a police officer opened fire at a nearby island youth camp. At least seven people were killed and 15 injured in the bomb blast, the nation’s worst attack since World War II.
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Police Inspector Bjoern Erik Sem-Jacobsen said a suspect in the shooting has been arrested. He said the gunman, who was dressed as a police officer, pulled out a gun and started firing into the crowd of youths. There were unconfirmed reports that five people were wounded in that shooting.
Acting Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim told broadcaster NRK that investigators suspect the two attacks are linked.
A square in Oslo, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded, was covered in twisted metal, shattered glass and documents expelled from surrounding buildings, which house government offices and the headquarters of some of Norway’s leading newspapers. Most of the windows in the 20-floor high-rise where Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and his administration work were shattered.
Stoltenberg was working at home Friday and was unharmed, according to senior adviser Oivind Ostang.
Public broadcaster NRK showed video of a blackened car lying on its side amid the debris. An AP reporter who was in the office of Norwegian news agency NTB said the building shook from the blast and all employees were evacuated. Down in the street, he saw one person with a bleeding leg being led away from the area.
Oslo police said the explosion was caused by “one or more” bombs, but declined to speculate on who was behind the attack. They later sealed off the nearby offices of broadcaster TV 2 after discovering a suspicious package.
At Utoya, an island outside Oslo, a gunman dressed in a police uniform opened fire at a Labor Party youth camp, shooting several youths, party spokesman Per Gunnar Dahl told The Associated Press.
“There has been an incident where a man dressed in a police uniform started shooting among the youngsters on the island. This created a panic situation where people started to swim from the island” to escape, he said. Dahl said unconfirmed reports said five people were hit.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the two attacks were related.
The explosion occurred at 3:30 p.m. (1330 GMT), as Ole Tommy Pedersen stood at a bus stop 100 meters (yards) away.
“I saw three or four injured people being carried out of the building a few minutes later,” Pedersen told AP.
The United States quickly condemned the bombing, and the U.S. Embassy in Norway warned Americans to avoid downtown Oslo.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Heide Bronke Fulton called the violence “despicable.” There has been no confirmation of any U.S. casualties, she said.
The U.S. has offered help to Norwegian authorities but there has been no specific request for assistance, she said.
The attacks come as Norway grapples with a homegrown terror plot linked to al-Qaida. Two suspects are in jail awaiting charges.
Last week, a Norwegian prosecutor filed terror charges against an Iraqi-born cleric for threatening Norwegian politicians with death if he is deported from the Scandinavian country. The indictment centered on statements that Mullah Krekar — the founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam — made to various news media, including American network NBC.
Terrorism has also been a concern in neighboring Denmark since an uproar over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad six years ago. Danish authorities say they have foiled several terror plots linked to the 2005 newspaper cartoons that triggered protests in Muslim countries. Last month, a Danish appeals court on Wednesday sentenced a Somali man to 10 years in prison for breaking into the home of the cartoonist.
Jews are rachamim bnei rachamim (compassionate children of compassionate ancestors) – so if you don’t feel sorry, maybe you should check out your lineage.
Terror in Oslo. How fitting.
It appears that the “Religion of Peace” is spreading its core message again…
Innocent people and young people were killed. Every human being should feel sad. A yid should not talk the way you are talking.
Besides, Norway has a history of being tolerant of Jews and also helping them during WWII, regardless of what is happening there now.
Wanna hear the ugly truth about Norway?
Just google what Alan Dershowitz has to say about the antisemitism he encountered there when he visited Norway earlier this year. The “open minded” Norwegian professors and academics declined his offer to speak, all because he supports Israel. They’re also really busy arranging boycotts of Israel. No government representative would meet with him, either. Dershowitz receives far better treatment from democratic governments all over the world.
Read about how Jewish schoolchildren are subjected to taunting, bullying, and abuse. Read about the Norwegian comedian who made odious remarks on national television about Jews in Auschwitz, and how he was backed and defended by many officials for his vile “jokes.” Read about how shuls have been targeted.
Norway, you never thought it could happen to you….
Renewed Concern About Anti-Semitism in Norway
New York, NY, January 2, 2009 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed concern about several recent instances of anti-Semitism in Norway, including a nationally broadcast remark by a Norwegian entertainer who made deeply offensive statements about the Holocaust.
On a November 27 program on TV2, the entertainer Otto Jespersen remarked that, “I would like to take the opportunity to remember all the billions of fleas and lice that lost their lives in German gas chambers, without having done anything wrong other than settling on persons of Jewish background.”
In a subsequent program, Jespersen tried to make light of the remark, claiming it was made only in jest. But he exacerbated the situation by repeating other classic anti-Semitic canards.
“These new manifestation of anti-Semitism in Norway are disturbing, and their seeping into the mainstream through entertainment and pop culture is clearly unacceptable,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor.
In a letter to Wegger Christian Strommen, the Ambassador of Norway to the United States, ADL noted that it had reached out earlier this year to his government about unspecified expressions of concern the League had received regarding anti-Semitism in Norway.
The recent national broadcast of anti-Semitic sentiments, Mr. Foxman wrote, reinforced those concerns and underscored the need for action.
“We call on your government to make clear that such anti-Semitic hate speech has no place in Norwegian society,” Mr. Foxman wrote. “We urge your government to speak out against Jespersen’s expressions of anti-Semitism, so it is clear to the Norwegian public that such hate speech is unacceptable.”
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.
Chickens coming home to roost.
Too many Arabs have been allowed to enter Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, and other European countries in the last 25 years. Keep them out, and also, keep them out of the USA. There are enough problems in the world, without adding more problems.
Wait, if you appease arabs and bash Israel all the time, you’re immune from muslim terror. Guess I was wrong. Glad I was wrong.
And how do we know it was Muslims who did this?
Was it the same Muslims who blew up the Oklahoma City Federal building?
The shooter is in custody and talking to police interrogators. He’s a WHITE NATIVE-BORN NORWEGIAN with long-standing ties to Right Wing anti-government groups. So far he seems to be acting alone and is the only current suspect for the bombing.
In other words, your haste to equate Muslims with terrorism and terrorism with Muslims is more a matter of prejudice than reality.
The news is reporting 80 ppl were killed in the camp