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At Least 91 Dead After Coordinated Attacks In Norway, Suspect In Custody
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 23, 2011
Modified Jul 23, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 23, 2011
Modified Jul 23, 2011
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At least 91 people were killed yesterday in Norway after two coordinated attacks rocked the country—and police have now arrested and charged a self-identified right wing Christian fundamentalist with spearheading the deadly attacks. Anders Behring Breivik, 32, is accused of dressing up as a police officer, entering the youth camp on the island of Utoya, and then shooting at least 84 people, most of whom were teens between 14 and 18. “People were falling dead right in front of me. I ran through the campus to the tent area. I saw the gunman — two people started to talk to him and two seconds later they were both shot,” witness Adrian Pracon told the BBC.
Pracon, who said he pretended to be dead "to stay alive," described the gunman as “sure, calm and controlled,” and said that he "screamed at us that we would all die.” According to Labour Party member Bjorn Jarle Roberg-Larsen, Utoya has no bridge to the mainland, and terrified youths, who were attending a meeting of the ruling Labour Party, instead jumped into the water and "started to swim in a panic...Others are hiding. Those I spoke with don’t want to talk more. They’re scared to death.” Police chief Oystein Maeland told a news conference: "We can't guarantee that won't increase", adding the attack had reached "catastrophic dimensions".
At the same time as the Utoya attack, at least two explosions occurred at a government building in Oslo, killing at least seven people, and leaving "a lot" of casualties. Manhattan-based pilot Ian Dutton, who was in Oslo during the attack, described it to the News: "It was literally like a bolt of lightning had hit my bed. It knocked the air out of my lungs. It shook the hotel as if there had been an earthquake." Dutton's hotel was a quarter-mile from the blast site, and he had a bird's-eye view of the bomb's aftermath: "There was a wall of debris and smoke, a big cloud. Right away, the first image in my mind was Sept. 11. It wasn't just smoke. It wasn't just flames. There was a big cloud that contained dust and dirt and broken up buildings."
Breivik has been implicated in the Oslo bombing as well as the Utoya slaughter, but police are still trying to determine if there was a second shooter on the island: “We are not sure whether he was alone or had help,” a police official, Roger Andresen, said at a televised news conference. Norway's prime minister Jens Stoltenberg denied that right-wing extremism was a particular problem for the country: "Compared to other countries I would not say we have a big problem with right-wing extremists in Norway." According to an official report published this year, Norwegian intelligence primarily feared an attack by Islamist extremists.
Police said they hadn't found any connections between Breivik and any particular anti-Islamic groups, but the Huffington Post describes him as an anti-Islamic nationalist, and the News dove into his Facebook page to get an idea of who he is: among other things, the Norwegian national claims to be a fan of Winston Churchill, classical music, hunting, and serial killer TV show Dexter. It is also being speculated that Breivik used a front company, Breivik Geofarm, he founded in 2009 as an excuse to legally stockpile large quantities of fertilizer and other chemicals which he could have used to build the bombs.
Tagged
Anders Behring Breivik
attacks
bombing
death
norway
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terrorism
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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