Bomb blast in Oslo; PM's office building targeted.

[arildno]

Terror has struck the Norwegian capital today.
At 15.26 local time (roughly two hours ago), what appears to have been a car bomb blasted off in the governmental quarters in Oslo.
Several have been confirmed dead; although none of our political leasers/ministers seem to be missing/hurt.

This a sad day for our nation.

 

[arildno]

Reuters has a report here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/22/us-norway-blast-idUSTRE76L2VI20110722

 

[DevilsAvocado]

Sad, very sad arildno, 2 killed and several injured, you have my and all Swedes sympathy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6XuRMt7tgc&hd=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6XuRMt7tgc

 

[DevilsAvocado]

WHAT THE? Now there is gunfire in Oslo, in some type of 'political camp'?


Edit: Sky News – Confirmed, some sort of organized terror attack... ongoing!

 

[arildno]

WHAT THE? Now there is gunfire in Oslo, in some type of 'political camp'?

That is correct.
A person disguised as a police officer visited the Oslofjord island Utøya, where the Labour Youth (teenagers) have their traditional summer camp.
He began firing about; people fled and hid.
Nothing more has yet surfaced about this onslaught yet.

 

[arildno]

Several of the youths at Utøya (approx 700 teenagers are there every year) have panicked, and begun swimming from the island.
That is a VERY BAD idea (but understandable), since the island is quite far from themain land.
I've beern there once at a mathematics course; I believe the ferry used something like 10-15 minutes to reach Utøya.

 

[DevilsAvocado]

... omg ... as said, all sympathies from your neighbors ...

 

[lisab]

Oh my, what a horror.

I wish all the best for Norway - you have the world's support, stay tough!

 

[arildno]

Not that it matters a lot, but Utøya lies in the inland lake Tyrifjord, rather than in the Oslo fjord.

Today, previous prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, internationally renowned for the brundtland commission on environment and her stint as general secretary of WHO is reported to have made a speech at Utøya.

I haven't found out if she is still out there, but the situation at Utøya is NOT under control at the moment.

 

[Evo]

Terrible. Those poor kids.

I hope they catch the person/persons responsible for the bombing and now this.

 

[DevilsAvocado]

no no no... 4 youths confirmed killed on the island, shooting ongoing ...

 

[Jack21222]

Luckily, your terrorists seem incompetent. Some traffic accidents kill and injure more people than this terror attack did.

*edit* I'm mainly talking about the bomb blast, not the ongoing murder spree on the island.

 

[arildno]

Luckily, your terrorists seem incompetent. Some traffic accidents kill and injure more people than this terror attack did.

These are EVIL persons, in contrast to the drunk drivers of the world.

 

[arildno]

4 are reported shot at Utøya, but deaths have not been confirmed.

However, the rescue teams who entered the government building R4 have found SEVERAL dead inside.

 

[Jack21222]

Idiot.
These are EVIL persons, in contrast to the drunk drivers of the world.

Yes, and the evil people have done less damage to Norway than they have in almost any other nation they attack.

Madrid had 191 killed and 1800 injured.
London had 56 killed and 700 injured
New York had over 3000 killed and many more injured
Mumbai had 166 killed

All I'm saying is luckily it wasn't worse.

 

[lisab]

Idiot.
These are EVIL persons, in contrast to the drunk drivers of the world.

I'm ignorant about Norwegian politics - are there any internal groups (anarchists, fringe political groups, etc.) who could possibly do such a thing? This comes to mind because it seems from the initial reports that the PM, and maybe his party, are being targeted.

 

[arildno]

I'm ignorant about Norwegian politics - are there any internal groups (anarchists, fringe political groups, etc.) who could possibly do such a thing? This comes to mind because it seems from the initial reports that the PM, and maybe his party, are being targeted.

Members of the Religion of Peace.
We have quite of a lot of them here.

 

[Evo]

Yes, and the evil people have done less damage to Norway than they have in almost any other nation they attack.

Madrid had 191 killed and 1800 injured.
London had 56 killed and 700 injured
New York had over 3000 killed and many more injured
Mumbai had 166 killed

All I'm saying is luckily it wasn't worse.

First, this is Norway, things like this don't happen there. Trying to dismiss this because other places have greater violence is ridiculous.

 

[Jack21222]

First, this is Norway, things like this don't happen there. Trying to dismiss this because other places have greater violence is ridiculous.

In no way am I being dismissive. I agree it's a bad thing, and I'm sure it's shocking to Norwegians, all I'm saying is it could have been a lot worse, and it wasn't.

 

[DevilsAvocado]

4 are reported shot at Utøya, but deaths have not been confirmed.

According to Sky News 5 is now confirmed dead on the island, but Sky are hopefully wrong. The terrorist has an automatic weapon, according to Sky.

 

[arildno]

According to Sky News 5 is now confirmed dead on the island, but Sky are hopefully wrong. The terrorist has an automatic weapon, according to Sky.

The county secretary in Labour Youth Telemark is the source of this message from Twitter, where he has said 4 persons shot&dead.

It is complete chaos out there; I hope he is wrong.

Some have managed to swim over, and hopefully, the others will be picked up by the police boats.

 

[mheslep]

These are EVIL persons, in contrast to the drunk drivers of the world.

Exactly. My condolences to the people of Norway.

 

[DevilsAvocado]

all I'm saying is it could have been a lot worse, and it wasn't.

Please, stop this nonsense. You are way out, and it’s a disgrace for the victims. This is a TERRORIST ATTACK on Norway, Europe, NATO and all other western countries, and it is NOT OVER for god’s sake!

 

[arildno]

This is the co-ordinated action of a terror group; where one part of the group carried out the attack at the government building, and another person of the group disguised himself as a policeman and when getting to Utøya asked to inform the youths about the bombing action.

THEN, he began to shoot at the assembled teenagers..

 

[DevilsAvocado]

The county secretary in Labour Youth Telemark is the source of this message from Twitter, where he has said 4 persons shot&dead.

It is complete chaos out there; I hope he is wrong.

Some have managed to swim over, and hopefully, the others will be picked up by the police boats.

... geez Sky is saying that one man is arrested on the island ...

 

[mheslep]

1:19 EST (3 mins old):

Norway TV reported that a group called Helpers of the Global Jihad said "This is just the beginning of what will come," though the TV station said it's unclear that the group has taken responsibility

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903461104576461862078291234.html

 

[arildno]

Yup, it is confirmed that a person was arrested, around 19.20 local time (ca. 8 minutes ago)

 

[DevilsAvocado]

1:19 EST (3 mins old):

Norway TV reported that a group called Helpers of the Global Jihad said "This is just the beginning of what will come," though the TV station said it's unclear that the group has taken responsibility

as expected

 

[arildno]

It is confirmed that previous prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, who has an iconic "Mother of the Country" position here left Utøya approximately 15 local time, an hour before the desperado began to shoot.

 

[arildno]

Ongoing press conference:

7 confirmed dead as per now in the government building.

 

[arildno]

This video was taken 5-10 min. after the bomb exploded in Oslo, prior to the cordoning off of the area.
"Incompetents", indeed!

 

[arildno]

I'm ignorant about Norwegian politics - are there any internal groups (anarchists, fringe political groups, etc.) who could possibly do such a thing? This comes to mind because it seems from the initial reports that the PM, and maybe his party, are being targeted.

If I should hazard a couple of guesses, it might be :

1) A response to Norway's engagement in Afghanistan
2) A response to Norway's bombing engagement in Libya.

 

[Astronuc]

It seems to be a rather large car bomb given the extent of damage over several blocks.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14252515

Several fatalities and injuries.

 

[lisab]

Damn terrorists. This sort of thing makes me sad, and very angry.

 

[arildno]

A horror report at Norwegian radio from one of the members from the rescue boats to Utøya:

He estimated that he saw AT LEAST 25-30 shot&dead teenagers lying in the coastal zone/floating in the waters around the island.
This is not officially confirmed.

There has been a report that the purported assassin had a Scandinavian outlook, blond.

It MIGHT be a Timothy McVeigh scenario we have witnessed, where a neo-nazi group has attacked the dominant centres of Labour party power, i.e, the PM office and the Labour Party "school" at Utøya.