OSLO and Utoya Island were the scenes for mass murder on Friday afternoon. It is thought that 76 people were killed in two separate attacks which have rocked the world. 32-year old Anders Behring Breivik has been arrested and might even face the death penalty, although a long jail term of upto 21 years is more likely.
On Utoya Island, around 20 miles away from the capital, Breivik dressed up as a police officer, enticed young political activists to him, as he let them know about the earlier carnage he’d caused outside the government buildings in Oslo. He then went on a shooting rampage, which gave his victims very little chance of escape. Initially, the death toll stood at 10 and had risen as high as 98. This has been downgraded today, as in the carnage; it is thought that some bodies were counted twice. Around 600 young people were estimated to be at the campsite for the summer.
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| WRECKAGE: A crumpled car lies in ruins after the Oslo explosion |
For those who escaped Breivik’s madness, they have been brought back to Norwegian mainland by the police, completely shocked and traumatised by the whole incident. Just hours earlier, Breivik had detonated a car bomb outside the offices of Norway’s prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg. Stoltenberg was due to visit the Utoya Island site on Saturday. Seven people were killed in Oslo, which saw finance, oil ministry buildings and the PM’s office severely damaged. Although they remain on high alert, the police have said that they aren’t linking Breivik to an international terrorist organisation, despite Norway’s small presence of army troops in both Libya and Afghanistan. Instead, they believe that this was the work of a ‘madman.’
PM Stoltenberg has vowed that the country will stick together. He told the Reuters news agency; “We are a small country, but a very proud one. Nobody can bomb us to be quiet; nobody can ever scare us from being Norway.” Breivik’s apartment in Oslo was searched before his arrest. A Christian fundamentalist, one of his friends told a media organisation that he was extremely right-wing in political aspects and used websites often to express his strong, unforgiving opinions.
Both David Cameron and Barack Obama have expressed their support with the Norwegian people following the trauma. Obama, who collected his 2009 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, said that “our hearts go out to them and we will provide any support we can.” Cameron told Sky News; “The Norwegians are old friends and allies and neighbours of Britain and I know all of Britain will stand with the Norwegian people in the days of sorrow that lie ahead.”
Norway has always been seen as a friendly, peaceful country with a good society and no sign of any impending trouble. The tranquil life that Norwegians enjoyed has now been terminally shattered on its darkest day, as the country and the entire world not only mourn the dead and pray for those seriously injured, but face up to the still severe threat of international and domestic terrorism.
