3:34 pm A large bomb has gone off near a government office building. Early reports suggested a second blast, however nothing has confirmed this and it seems like a erroneous report.
Video immediately after the blast:
http://www.dagbladet.no/2011/07/22/n...ombe/17419976/
5:16 pm Update .. A lone gunman dressed as a police officer opens fire on a small island on a lake 1hr drive west of Oslo, possibly killing/wounding as many as 5 youths there for a political camp. Kids at the camp have been tweeting panic, kids diving into the water to swim for safety, hiding in the bushes.
Update ..
Quote:
7.11pm: The New York Times has more on the claim of responsibility by an Islamist group (thanks to Marta Hernandez Salvan for passing this on):
A terror group, Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami (the Helpers of the Global Jihad), issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, according to Will McCants, a terrorism analyst at CNA, a research institute that studies terrorism. The message said the attack was a response to Norwegian forces' presence in Afghanistan and to unspecified insults to the Prophet Muhammad. "We have warned since the Stockholm raid of more operations," the group said, apparently referred to a bombing in Sweden in December 2010, according to Mr McCants' translation. "What you see is only the beginning, and there is more to come." The claim could not be confirmed.
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This is horrible, lots of rumors going around as why and who the target was.
7.44pm: An eyewitness has told Norway's NRK broadcaster he saw more than 20 bodies at camp shooting.
7.57pm: Former Guardian staffer Neil Perry, based in Oslo, is watching Norwegian television and tells me they are showing images taken from a helicopter showing people still swimming in the water off Utoya Island, presumably they threw themselves into the sea to get away from the gunman. An eyewitness has reported bodies of people who had been shot floating in the water.
8.54pm: Here are the main points made in recent police press conference, according to an email sent to me by Henrik Hildre:
- 9 or 10 people confirmed dead at Utøya so far, preliminary search completed, they are now conducting a more thorough search.
- Several injured, no definite number.
- No more dead found in Oslo.
- The arrested man is talking to the police. He was arrested wearing a blue top with a police logo.
9.02pm: According to David Berry, from the department of Political Studies at Swansea University, on NRK in the last few minutes they interviewed the head of police in Oslo and he stated that the gunman was NOT wearing a police uniform, rather a blue jumper which had a Norwegian police badge or sign on it. He also confirmed that the suspect had never worked for the police.
9.07pm: On Twitter
runehak, who works for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, says:
News agency NTB says police do NOT think this is international terrorism. #osloexpl #oslobomb #whys
10.01pm: Neil Perry tells me the police have said that the same man was seen at the site of both attacks.
He thinks this is starting to look less like the work of international terrorists and more like that of a lone attacker with a grudge against the government.
10.22pm: Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has confirmed that the current number of people killed at the youth camp was nine or 10, but said police, "fear that there could be more."
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/eu...html?hpt=hp_t1
10.41pm: On BBC's Newsnight Security Correspondent Gordon Corera says a youth rally is not a usual type of target for an Islamist terrorist - a factor which suggests the attacks may have been carried out by someone with a national agenda, but he points out that the car bombing in Oslo was big, so it would have been a lot for someone working alone to achieve.
1.33am: AP has this:
A Norwegian police official says the 32-year-old Norwegian man suspected of the Oslo bombing and a shooting at a youth camp does not appear to be linked to Islamist terrorism.
The official says the attacks probably have more in common with the 1995 attack on a U.S. federal building in Olkahoma City than the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
He says the suspect appears to have acted alone, and "it seems like that this is not linked to any international terrorist organizations at all." He added that the investigation is still ongoing and that things can change.
The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because that information has not yet been released by Norway's police.
5am Estimates now suggest at least 80 dead on the island
LIVE BBC feed:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14254705
Guardian UK LIVE blog:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog...-live-coverage
Information of Mullah Krekar which has been fighting extradition in Norway for many years now, is often accused of having many terrorist ties and active involvement with terrorists.