Breivik’s attack on Friday began with a bomb in the capital’s government headquarters, which houses the Prime Minister’s office. Seven people are believed dead in that attack. But Breivik, apparently, was waiting to do murder at the Island, which is about 20 miles from Oslo. There, he gunned down 84.
Said Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, "My childhood paradise … yesterday was transformed into Hell."
Though an Islamic group claimed credit for the bombing, Breivik, apparently, is the only suspect.
What Happened
Breivik’s bomb exploded at about 3:30 p.m. local time in Oslo. As the New York Times noted, the streets around the city’s government center appeared to be Baghdad, Iraq, or Oklahoma City, the latter a reference to atheist Timothy McVeigh’s bombing on April 19, 1995.
At 5:30 p.m., police allege that Breivik, dressed in a police uniform, opened fire at Utoya Island with a “machine pistol,” as authorities described it. The Labor Party, which governs Norway, was holding a summer camp for its youth members.
By the end of the attack, 91 were dead. Police are still searching for bodies in the waters surrounding the island.
It’s a wonder more people weren’t killed im the bombing. The Washington Post reprised a Norwegian newspaper’s account of what Breivik used to carry out the attack:
The Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang, citing a spokeswoman for agricultural material supplier Felleskjopet, reported that the suspect bought 6 tons of artificial fertilizer — which is highly explosive — some 10 weeks before the attack. Police were alerted to the purchase only after it emerged the man was suspected of the deadly attacks, the Associated Press reported, quoting the newspaper.
The Norwegian VG newspaper reported that police had blocked off a farm in Asta, 100 miles north of Oslo, and were searching it, and Norwegian media speculated that the farm may have been the source of explosives used in the attack on Oslo, which blew out almost every window in the 17-story building that houses the prime minister’s office and severely damaged several other nearby buildings in the government district of Oslo.
The New York Times identified the fertilizer as ammonium nitrate.
Norwegian Profiling
An Islamic group took credit for the attack, the Times reported, and Spielgel online reported that Islamic Internet forums called the attack “good news.” As well, Norwegian authorities, Jihad Watch.com notes, had every reason to believe the attack was the work of Muslim terrorists from al-Qaeda.
As Jihad Watch.com noted, Muslim terrorists recently released a handbook on fertilizer bombs and an Islamic terrorist threatened to make Norwegians pay for deporting him. Britain’s Sky News “reported that earlier this year, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula released a bomb-making handbook which contained notes on how to build fertilizer bombs.”
[Agence France Presse] reported that intelligence police chief Janne Kristiansen said last February that Islamic extremism was a major threat to the country and “our main priority and our main concern.”
Norway, a member of NATO, has some 500 troops in Afghanistan.
Last year police arrested three Muslim men based in Norway who were suspected of planning an attack using explosives, AFP reported.
Norwegian prosecutors earlier this month also filed a terrorism charge against Mullah Krekar, founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam, who was accused of threatening a politician with death over his potential deportation from the country.
Krekar had warned that “Norway will pay a heavy price” if he were deported.
But the suspect is not Islamic. The Associated Press quickly noted that Breivik is a “blond, blue-eyed Norwegian,” and Norwegian authorities flatly stated that Breivik is "right-wing and a Christian fundamentalist" who may or may not have gotten help, as the New York Times duly reported:
“We are not sure whether he was alone or had help,” a police official, Roger Andresen, said at a televised news conference, adding: “What we know is that he is right-wing and a Christian fundamentalist.” So far Mr. Breivik has not been linked to any anti-jihadist groups, he said.
Johan Fredriksen, chief of staff for the Oslo police, said officials were “not surprised” that the attacks had been the work of an ethnic Norwegian, a blond, blue-eyed man, saying “we think about scenarios.”
Breivik posted his beliefs on his Facebook page, the Times also reported.
A Facebook page matching his name and the photo given out by the police was set up just a few days ago. It listed his religion as Christian, politics as conservative. It said he enjoys hunting, the video games World of Warcraft and Modern Warfare 2, and books including Machiavelli’s “The Prince” and George Orwell’s “1984.”
There was also a Twitter account apparently belonging to Mr. Breivik. It had one item, posted last Sunday: “One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests.”
Photo of explosion in Oslo: AP images
