Peter Beaumont
London Guardian
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Norway was today coming to terms with one of the worst atrocities in recent European history as police revealed that 91 people died in the attacks in the centre of Oslo and on a nearby island summer camp, apparently the work of a lone gunman.
The killings, it now seems clear, were carried out by a 32-year old Norwegian, named by local media as Anders Behring Breivik, who had expressed far-right views, and had dressed as a policeman to carry out his bomb attack on government buildings in central Oslo before heading to the island of Utøya, where he shot at least 84 people.
Survivors of the island attack, which took place barely two hours after a huge bomb was detonated close to the offices of Norway’s prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, described how the gunmen moved across the small, wooded Utøya holiday island on Friday firing at random as young people scattered in fear.
Teenagers at the lakeside camp organised by Stoltenberg’s ruling Labour party fled screaming in panic, many leaping into the water or climbing trees to save themselves, when the attacker began spraying them with gunfire.
The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!