Massive Bomb Blast in Oslo, Shooting Spree Follows - 87 Dead
- Norway - photo by flickr.com
Up to 87 people have died in Oslo after a powerful bomb blast in its
Government sector and a shooting spree on the nearby Utoya island.
According to Norway's police officials, on Friday 22 July 2011, a 32-year-old Norwegian male has been arrested following the twin attacks in Oslo.
Al-Qaida No More, Right-Wing Links Suspected
Although the attacks are still hours fresh and many so-called terrorism analysts and experts have initially evoked the possibility of links to Al-Qaida, religious extremist groups and anything that may include the word 'Islam'; it appears that the arrested individual is linked to Norwegian right-wing extremist groups.Similar to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the powerful bomb in Oslo is reported to have been positioned to obliterate government buildings. It is currently unknown whether the arrested white Norwegian man has previous government or military background.
Utoya Island Shootings
According to an Associated Press article, Norway Horror: 80 die in camp shooting, 7 in blast, by Nils Myklebost, the same suspect has killed up to 80 people on Utoya Island. The island was the site of a summer youth camp where the Norwegian Prime Minister Stoltenberg was due to visit.
Initially, police officials estimated that 10 people had been killed on the island, however, reports from early hours of Saturday revealed a much higher number of 80 victims. "It's taken time to search the area. What we know now is that we can say that there are at least 80 killed at Utoya," police director Oystein Maeland told reporters less than an hour ago.
The attack on the youth camp occurred up to two hours after the bomb blast in Oslo, where the affected area resembled streets of Sarajevo in the 1990s.
Identity of Suspect
Norwegian's national news broadcaster, NRK, have identified the suspect as Anders Behring Breivik. He is a caucasian, blond, blue-eyed male whose apartment has reportedly been searched by police.The suspected terrorist seems to have managed to inflict the highest shooting spree death toll in history as well as the deadliest terrorist attacks on European soil since the 2004 Madrid bombings. The Madrid bombings claimed 191 lives and prompted the withdrawal of Spanish troops from foreign nations.
Anonymous police officials have reportedly likened the Oslo and Utoya Island attacks to Oklahoma City bombings and tried to quell any blame on religious extremism (foreign or home-grown). The Oklahoma City bombing was an anti-government attack, carried out by Timothy McVeigh in 1995. It was the most destructive terrorist attack on U.S. soil until the events of September 11, 2001.
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