7 killed as blast, shooting shatter Norway calm

(Top) Rescue personnel help the wounded after the bomb blast in Oslo’s government headquarters on Friday. (below) An aerial view of Utoya Island, northwest of Oslo, where a man dressed as a police officer opened fire on a youth camp on Friday. (AP)

Oslo, July 22 (Agencies): Terrorism ravaged long-peaceful Norway today when a bomb ripped open buildings, including the Prime Minister’s office, and a man dressed as a police officer opened fire on 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.

Police inspector Bjoern Erik Sem-Jacobsen said a suspect in the shooting had 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.

One witness said he saw 20 dead at the youth camp, but police said they had no confirmation of deaths on the island.       

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes, at least 20 dead people lying in the water,” Andre Skeie, 26, told Reuters by telephone. He said he had gone to Utoya island with his boat to help people evacuate the island after the shooting. Police declined to comment on casualties at Utoya, northwest of Oslo.

Labour 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.”

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. Government offices and the headquarters of some of Norway’s leading newspapers have their offices in the buildings. 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 today and was unharmed, according to senior adviser Oivind Ostang.

Stoltenberg told NRK: “Co-workers have lost their lives today... it’s frightening. That’s not how we want things in our country. But it’s important that we don’t let ourselves be scared. Because the purpose of that kind of violence is to create fear.”

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.

“It exploded — it must have been a bomb. People ran in panic... I counted at least 10 injured people,” said bystander Kjersti Vedun, who was leaving the area of the blast. 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 TV2 offices after discovering a suspicious package.

The explosion occurred at 1330GMT, as Ole Tommy Pedersen stood at a bus stop 100 metres away. “I saw three or four injured people being carried out of the building a few minutes later,” Pedersen said.

A Reuters witness said he had seen soldiers taking up positions around central Oslo, while police said they feared there might be explosives at the youth camp.

The US quickly condemned the bombing, and the US embassy in Norway warned Americans to avoid downtown Oslo. In Washington, state department spokeswoman Heide Bronke Fulton called the violence “despicable”.

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 centred on statements that Mullah Krekar — the founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam — made to various news media.

Terrorism has also been a concern in neighbouring Denmark since an uproar over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad six years ago.