Final Update 4:38pm EDT: Live-blogging on this post is now complete. I’ll do further updates in separate posts. Many thanks to the Scandinavian Gang of Five for making this report possible.
Update 3:52pm EDT:
The Norwegian royal family is said to be safe. The Castle is quite close to the blast location in Oslo.
The Prime minister is on camera now, live TV. Undisclosed location.
The New York Times quotes the Islamist group taking responsibility.
A witness saw a suspicious-looking man in police uniform two minutes before the bomb (Norwegian).
It’s possible that the shooter at Utøya was also the man seen in Oslo. The island is an not far from Oslo, and can be reached easily by car in a matter of minutes.
Henrik: “Utøya is perhaps ten kilometers or so away from downtown Oslo. The road is fine (they just showed it), it would be no problem at all to get from the center of Oslo to the island quickly.”
Here is the report (in Norwegian) from the workshop at the Utøya summer Socialist youth camp on “Combating Xenophobia and Islamophobia.”
A shotgun, a rifle and a pistol were used on Utøya. One witness says that the shooter did indeed target swimming youths in the water (Norwegian).
Hat tips: Fjordman, Henrik.
Update 3:25pm EDT:
Norwegian television requests people with blood type O to show up to donate. Medic choppers are now flying back and forth between Oslo and Utøya.
Restaurants and cafes all over central Oslo are closed now.
Despite being a member of the Schengen group, Norway has implemented temporary border controls.
Fjordman:
The reports from Utøya still mention anything from 10 to 30 dead, but everybody says it looks like a slaughterhouse, with dead bodies floating in the water.
Several people (Utøya is an island) tried to swim away from there. Some apparently failed…
The police are now saying (Norwegian) that they “know the identity” of the Utøya shooter, and that he “may have been” involved in both of the attacks, i.e. also the bombing.
Hat tips: Fjordman, Henrik, Kitman.
Update 3:01pm EDT:
TV2 Norway is also evacuated, due to a possible bomb in their buildings. Checkpoints have been set up around Oslo. Military police have been deployed.
Police confirm the two incidents (Oslo and Utøya) are related, according to Dagbladet.no.
The latest indications from police point in the direction of a convert in the Utøya incident. Aftenposten.no says four are probably dead. Other sources say “many,” not just several. Danish television repeats the figure “possibly 25-30 killed on Utøya”.
Henrik: “The situation in Utøya will take some time to clear up. It’s somewhat remote, a countryside setting, a tent camp for the youth. Many were swimming for safety. Very difficult to figure out who are safe and who are missing.”
The Utøya killer identified himself to security, and was granted passage to the (tiny) island. His weapon was a rifle with scope. Police suspect there may be explosives on Utøya.
560 were on the island. It’s hard to keep count of who was there.
More on Twitter (Swedish site):
IntelTweetEvanKohlmann
Abu Suleiman al-Nasser: “Today, Norway was targeted in order to serve as a lesson and example for the rest of the nations of Europe.”
[…]
Notorious online extremist Abu Suleiman al-Nasser has also now responded to reports of a possible terrorist attack in Oslo, Norway.
Hat tips: Fjordman Henrik, Reinhard, Kitman.
Update 2:42pm EDT:
There is still chaos in central Oslo, much of it evacuated. They are also checking the airport express train for bombs.
Al Qaeda claims responsibility on Twitter (Swedish).
“Many” are now said to have been found dead at Utøya. Unconfirmed numbers (eyewitness calling on the phone, unverified): 25-30.
It took an hour to eliminate the killer, who apparently had several weapons. The authorities are now checking the island for bombs.
Photos just broadcast on Danish TV show bodies floating in the water. Henrik says, “If what I see in the television pictures is bodies floating in the water, there are roughly ten.”
Hat tips: Fjordman Henrik, Reinhard.
Update 2:08pm EDT:
The shooter at Utøya is consistently described as tall and very Nordic-looking.
Hat tip: Fjordman.
Update 1:54pm EDT:
It is now confirmed by the police that a person has been caught at Utøya.
Seven people have been confirmed killed by the bomb, and several others severely wounded.
This video shows the full extent of the destruction after the bombings.
Hat tips: Fjordman and Kitman.
Update 1:47pm EDT:
Corriere Della Sera reports (Italian) that the terrorist group Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami has claimed responsibility for the explosion in Oslo with a message on a jihadi forum, blaming the presence of Norway in Afghanistan and “insults” to the prophet Muhammad.
Update 1:33pm EDT:
The Guardian reports:
NRK is reporting that an unknown group called “Helpers of the Global Jihad” have posted a message that this is only the beginning of the reaction to Norwegian periodicals publishing the Muhammed cartoons, according to Andrew Boyle, a journalist in Norway.
Hat tip: Kitman.
Update 1:20pm EDT:
There are now unconfirmed rumors that the shooter in Utøya has been caught.
Several of the shooting victims were allegedly killed. No word on how many.
Witnesses in Oslo report that they can still hear multiple helicopters and ambulances.
Update 1:15pm EDT:
There are now four confirmed deaths in the Oslo attack.
There may well be several dead at the Utøya shooting, too, but we don’t know yet. There are conflicting reports, lots of chaos and rumors.
The latest report says he used a maskinpistol, which means submachine gun.
Update 12:56pm EDT:
The police have asked everybody to evacuate central Oslo (Norwegian). That includes the news desk of newspaper Aftenposten:
At least four people are now reported to have been shot (Norwegian) at the shooting incident in Utøya. An “automatic weapon” of some sort was used.
People are hiding and swimming away from the area. It is hard for ambulances to get there because the shooting is still ongoing.
Numerous deaths are now reported from the shootings. But there are conflicting reports; some say wounded, others dead.
The foreign minister spoke at Utøya today, and the topic was the Middle East. There is even a video of it, uploaded three hours ago. Seems to have been an anti-Israel speech. According to Fjordman: “It’s an anti-Israeli, pro-Palestinian crowd of young Socialists.”
Hat tips: Fjordman, Kitman.
Update 12:20pm EDT:
The Prime Minister himself confirms that there has been a shooting episode at the Labour Party’s youth summer camp. Still ongoing, with few details (Norwegian).
The shooter was dressed in police uniform, referred to the bombing as the reason he needed to get into the meeting, before he started shooting.
Update 12:13pm EDT:
Social Democratic Youth sponsored the meeting where the shooting took place. Utøya was filled with a crowd of young members of the Labour Party. Former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland gave a speech there earlier today, and the current Prime Minister Stoltenberg is supposed to do so tomorrow.
PM Stoltenberg will not give a press conference proper, for security reasons.
Police now report that fifteen were wounded.
Update 12:06pm EDT:
An additional attack outside of Oslo (Norwegian): One person dressed as a police officer opened fire at a crowd of several hundred young people.
There are conflicting reports about how many devices were detonated. It is believed that some bombs did not detonate, and are still in place in one or more buildings.
The bulletproof windows next to the Prime Minister’s office are intact, but the rest of the Government building is severely damaged.
It is reported that it might have been a fertilizer bomb.
Update 12:01pm EDT:
Prime Minister Stoltenberg is on the air now. The members of the government are all reported safe.
People are reported to be stuck inside some of the buildings. Fire in one corner of the building.
“According to U.S. government sources on the scene”, one of the two blasts was the result of a massive vehicle bomb.
They are evacuating other media houses, and say that the evacuations seems to have nothing to do with the prior explosions.
Hat tips: Fjordman, Henrik, KGS, Kitman.
Update 11:46am EDT:
It is now reported that Prime Minister Stoltenberg was not present in the building. Stoltenberg will comment in half an hour.
A wrecked car can be seen in front of the building. But it’s not sufficiently destroyed that it could have held a bomb of this size.
One corner of one building appears to have had all its bricks stripped off.
Nine people are now reported wounded.
It is now solidly reported as a “terrorist attack”.
Hat tip: Henrik.
Update 11:41am EDT: Comment from Fjordman: “Please keep in mind that the left-wing government of Jens Stoltenberg that was just bombed is the most dhimmi appeasing of all Western governments, to the extent that this is humanly possible. They even wanted to fund Hamas openly a while ago.
“The most suicidal and cowardly government in a country with no colonial history was just attacked. How do you explain that as a response to Western ‘aggression’?”
Update 11:38 EDT: The Ministry of Oil was hit, the Ministry of Nutrition, and the Ministry of Finance, as well as the Prime Minister’s office, of course.
Update: The police fear additional bombs, and warn people to stay away from central Oslo.
Fortunately it is raining heavily in Oslo now, which may help put out the fires.
At Oslo Airport, armed police are now checking all cars entering or leaving.
Update: video of an eyewitness account, subtitled by Kitman:
Update: The police are now calling the incident a “bomb”, and not just an “explosion”, and the newspaper VG calls it a “terror attack”.
This is breaking news — the situation in Oslo is chaotic at the moment, and the only definite news is that Norwegian government buildings were badly damaged, at least two people were killed, and a number of others were injured.
A digest of the various reports:
The building that was attacked houses the office of the Prime Minister.
Hans Rustad from the quality blog Document.no, who calls the explosion simply “terror in Oslo,” says that the Government building resembles the American embassy in Nairobi in 1998.
If this is a terror attack, which it most likely is, it is unprecedented in Norwegian and Scandinavian history outside of wartime. Even the Muslim suicide bomber in Stockholm last year didn’t do nearly this much material damage, and he only killed himself.
They are evacuating parts of downtown Oslo now.
From the sound of it, it seems that eight injured people is a gross understatement. No reports of dead yet, but many wounded.
Although the source of the blast is unclear, Al-Jazeera TV notes that Norwegian prosecutors on Tuesday filed a terrorism charge against Mullah Krekar, founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jen Stoltenberg is safe, the Norwegian news agency NTB reports, according to the Associated Press.
Reuters says PM Stoltenberg is reportedly safe after a blast that rocked central Oslo and knocked out windows in government buildings.
Reuters reports at least 8 people injured in an explosion that knocked out most of the windows in a 17-story building where Prime Minister Jen Stoltenberg’s office is located. The nearby oil ministry is reported to be on fire.
A photograph of the scene on the Aftenposten web site shows several blocks strewn with rubble, and almost all the windows of one building shattered.
Witnesses claim to have seen dead people.
There are rumors that the explosion started in a large car, and there may have been a second explosion in downtown Oslo.
Later report: One confirmed dead.
Later report: Several car bombs, apparently. The entire city center of Oslo in chaos now. Two confirmed dead now, many wounded.
Links to sources, both Norwegian and English:
Hat tips: Fjordman, Kitman.
42 comments:
They should thank them for all the cultural enrichment!
And the Mohammed Quotient here is?...
7/22/2011 - Perhaps the First Day of the Discontinuity?
Dr. Shalit
Amusingly a BBC reporter described the bomb attack as a "happening". I guess we can rewrite the WWII German attack on London as "the big Happening".
From Nevergiveup on Blogmocracy:
"Update at 10:14 a.m. ET: Although the source of the blast is unclear, Al-Jazeera TV notes that Norwegian prosecutors on Tuesday filed a terrorism charge against Mullah Krekar, founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam. Mullah Krekar is accused of threatening a former minister, Erna Solberg, with death, Al-Jazeera says."
Remember THIS?
Or maybe THIS?
Dunno if the story is correct about Mullah Krekar.
The TV news report here shows the interview of a Norwegian witness. I did not know Norwegians looked like Arabs.
@1389--
Are you being ironic? You are an insightful decoder of the Uglies. Thus, you know Norway's appeasing gutlessnes would only egg this guy on...
Early times, but I'll bet it's a response to them getting tougher with Krekar and this is his response. IOW, the longer we wait to draw a line re standards, the harder will be the pushback...
-----------------
M. Marchenoir -- You didn't? I think he's a barrista of some sort...what is the ethnic identity of barristas in your area?
------------------
BTW, did anyone else notice the jaw-dropping imbecile reporterette's question in that video, "how did this make you feel?" I thought they stopped doing that in the 1990s. Guess not.
"I did not know Norwegians looked like Arabs."
In Oslo they do. Arabs, Kurds, Pakistanis, Somalis, you name it. Anything and everything is fine as long as they rape the natives and destroy the country, which they do.
"Another Dagbladet journalist, Anne Marte Blindheim, reports: 'It looks like a war zone. It doesn't look as if one is in Norway.' "
Exactly. Bring in "Norwegians" such as the one on TV, and twenty years later you have a war zone. And reporters lamenting that "it does not look as if one is in Norway".
Although I guess if she had ventured such a phrase before the blast, just looking at this "Norwegian", she would have lost her job.
You're not allowed to connect the dots. Although this might be changing.
Dymphna : barristas ? wazzat ? My barristas are not barristas, but café owners, and they are French. Admittedly of a dying breed.
The current trend over here is of Chinese buying former French bistrots. Another "barrista" in a café next door is African.
I'm not speaking of McDonalds and KFCs, of course. That's another planet. It requires a visa I don't have.
I'm not even thinking of Starbucks.
By the way : thanks to GoV for reporting this. I learned it here. Not that the European media do not cover it, but you know, wartime BBC and all that.
My Norwegian "cousins," you had better heed our advice this time...it's time to begin MASS DEPORTATIONS of your "cultural enrichers," unless this is the "enrichment" you have sought! Send them all back to the cesspools from which they came. If you don't start now, it will be much worse next time. How many more Norwegians must be slaughtered before you stop stewing? Act! Don't be a nation of Hamlets. Act now.
It's high time to initiate "cultural purification" and restore Norway to it's historical roots. I'd hate to think you'll allow your elected "leaders" to kowtow to you "cultural destroyers," any further. Send them home, NOW, before it's too late. There are no moderates in their midst, only murderers or their enablers, be they liberal multiculti's or your "cultural invaders." They just declared war upon your peaceful country, now you must ACT!
If you elect one more liberal, you're all INSANE!
PH
I would like to mention 3 things:
1 - I attended a Naturalization Oath Ceremony for a friend from Sweden last week here in the US. 90 % of the new "citizens" were from Somalia and other muslim places. ALL the women present wore burkas. Most of those people did not speak the Pledge of Allegiance or have their hands over their hearts during the pledge. That was a massive, open refusal of the US. We dig our own graves at an amazing speed bringing these parasites in.
2 - PC readers of the "Daily Mail Online" write how the Norwegians are not welcoming to starngers and that they had it coming. My anger at that is indescribable.
3 - The young people on that island lived this terror (and obviously it is still going on) for hours now. None of them are armed!!! No Norwegian civilian can put an end to this nightmare because they are not allowed to be armed. As usual in socialist countries the only people armed are the criminals and the terrorists. The right to keep and bear arms is a basic, natural right of every law abiding citizen. The people of Norway should drag their entire government into court for treason and murder.
So effing pi**ed!
This was inevitable. Only a matter of time before other European nations get a taste of their multicultural tolerance that they've been cooking for decades.
Because the targets in the shooting were all good little leftists, won't the shooter be played up as a right wing extremist, whatever his actual motives? Remember the contortions the media went through to blame Sarah Palin for the mentally ill if anything leftist crank shooter of Congresswoman Giffords?
It will be all: "Don't look over there at the Muslim terrorist car bomb", part of thousands of incidents of Muslim terrorism killing thousands around the world, look over here at this lone looney we'll dub the true danger from a fictional rightist enemy."
Along this line, is everyone aware that Stieg Larsson, he of posthumous novelistic success was a communist sympathizer who along with his common-law wife saw right wingers as the root of all evil while aiding the leftist sell out of all of Scandinavia? Ironically, he used that paranoid fantasy to avoid marrying his partner (supposedly to avoid putting her in danger from the phantom Swedish rightists out to get him for his crack [on crack?] investigative reporting) and through Swedish law left her penniless on his sudden demise. But like a good little hypocritical leftist, she's managing to make money anyway through capitalism by writing a book about him herself and flogging it with a grand tour, unconcerned about the "dangerous right" but still pretending it exists.
blaming the presence of Norway in Afghanistan and “insults” to the prophet Muhammad.
I am insulted by THEIR presence in my holy western lands. I demand they depart IMMEDIATELY.
I wonder what the Mohammed Coefficient in this equation turns out to be...
AP
"I am insulted by THEIR presence in my holy western lands. I demand they depart IMMEDIATELY."
*GASP* But, but, that means you're no better than the terrorists!!
"Norway has [...] thrown away Judaism"
WTF?
I call upon the government and people of Norway to reach back into their history and remember the "Bear-shirted" ones. I.O.W. GO BERZERK on your enemies. Borrow a LeopardII tank from your Swedish neighbors and give Mullah Krekar a little visit, Tonight!
Saw a comment in the Times about how Norway will not be like the US in hitting back and how civilized they are for that being so. I say, that an attack at this level cannot go unanswered by any nation state worthy of the name. Go 'GIT 'EM NORWAY!
DR. Shalit
Sky News - As Many as 30 Dead
21.26 GMT
Interesting video commentary on that previous link. Talks about Islamist terrorists cultivating clean skins who 'look like locals, indeed are locals' to carry out their dirty deeds. Very interesting indeed ..
I'm sorry to say that i'm almost cryng of happiness. Better to shake up now and save your country than to fool yourself and let your country be destroyed!
My condolences to the Norwegian people! Long live Norway!
But the most important one:
WAKE UP NORWAY!
Do we know as a fact it is followers of the pedophile prophet? I know members of the death cult are taking responsibility, but the tall Nordic guy, raises some doubts.
Quite aware he could be a convert, or from the Balkans.
Listening on BBC radio, it seems the Norwegian prime minister's sole concern was for himself - "I am safe but cannot say where I am", and his government. No mention of hoping everyone else was safe. But as a regime that actively courts the most anti-semitic, anti-Israel terror groups and does nothing to stop the rape of their own young women and attacks on native Norwegians, I guess no surprise there!
Hopefully this does not mean t here will now be full-blown appeasement like in UK!! Excellent coverage!!
Here is the report (in Norwegian) from the workshop at the Utøya summer Socialist youth camp on “Combating Xenophobia and Islamophobia.”
Wow... talk about irony. I wonder if this experience may have an altering affect on the world views on some of the youth fortunate enough to survive?
Findalis, on the odd chance its a nut or neo-Nazi, it will get thrown back in people's faces.
Yes, I give this about a 95% chance of followers of the death cult moon god.
Of course, if it is a Norwegian (light skinned Nordic type) convert to the death cult who kept a name like Lars Jorgensen or whatever, the Norwegian press may decide we don't need to know his religion.
21.49 The Prime Minister:
"Our answer is more democracy, more openness to show that we will not be stopped by this kind of violence. At the same time we shouldn't be naive, we should understand that violence can attack our society - we've seen that today."
More openness ? Openness to what, exactly ? To socialism ? To immigration ? To islam ? To sharia ?
The massacre at the children's camp is a sickening reminder of just how evil and Satanic the cult of Islam is. The attack is reminiscent of the massacre at the Russian school, though in this case without the pedophile rapes and enforced urine drinking.
You've done excellent work blogging this horrible situation today, Baron -- much more timely and intelligent than the coverage by CNN that I was following initially.
Thank you for providing this superior service.
Very sad, and probably not the last of its kind.
Considering how soft the targets were, the actual damage inflicted appears rather light -- despite the tragedy. Given the lack of any credible defense, it could have been much, much worse.
Norway is a very complacent (not to mention complaisant) nation. Someone needs to tell Norwegian officials and journalists that self-righteousness does not stop bombs or bullets.
Judging from some of the recent information, it must be treated as a serious possibility that this is actually some Timothy McVeigh, not a Muslim. It is too early to tell. If that is indeed the case, he will have single-handedly destroyed the political climate in my country for years to come. Regardless of who is he, we should have the death penalty for such scumbags. You do not deserve to live after such slaughter.
Here is the report (in Norwegian) from the workshop at the Utøya summer Socialist youth camp on “Combating Xenophobia and Islamophobia.”
****
The banner of the site for this Socialist youth camp has some of the usual symbols of leftist rebellion and revolutionary spirit : a flame bursting from the logo, a skull and bones sketch.
Now the fire has been for real. The dead bodies are not just for fun.
Will they understand ?
Notice that the contradiction has been in the banner from the start : a hippie peace sign, a red heart and a "kiss" are mixed with the flame and the skull.
They wanted peace ; they got murder.
"It must be treated as a serious possibility that this is actually some Timothy McVeigh, not a Muslim." (Fjordman)
Aren't they quite similar, both in deeds, intent, and worldview ?
"Aren't they quite similar, both in deeds, intent, and worldview?"
Yes, they are, but it will make it a lot easier for the already heavily left-leaning mass media to silence all white right-wing dissenters still left. It would practically destroy my country, and make the working conditions for people like myself incredibly difficult for a long time to come, I'm afraid.
Baron, why do you not let me deal with Findalis' comments? I think they were worth being exposed for what they were. Was there anything against the blog rules in my posts?
Findalis was trolling the thread. Trolling should not be accepted, be that from Jewish or anti-Jewish trolls.
Snow Walker --
Your comment was collateral damage. Findalis was far beyond our limits, and had to go. When I delete comments, I delete replies, too, because it makes no sense to leave a reply without a comment.
Fjordman's reply and yours were deleted for that reason.
There's still no clear indication of this gunman's motives. (00:29 23d July) There have been several people who apparently are 'experts' on terrorism saying on TV that this has all the hallmarks of an AQ-type attack. The possibility of a Libyan connection has been discussed several times, but no one on any of the TV channels I've been watching seems to think this is a real possibility.
Of course there are people from all kinds of backgrounds who are willing to kill others for all kinds of reasons - Volkert van der Graaf, the murderer of Pim Fortuyn, springs to mind here. It is possible then, that someone with non-AQ motives has carried out a terrorist attack using an AQ model. (Possibly using AQ-sourced material for instruction.) Which is why all these 'experts' on TV are suggesting an AQ link.
There's no real way of knowing at this point.
1389: Per Nevergiveup on Blogmocracy:
"Update at 10:14 a.m. ET: Although the source of the blast is unclear, Al-Jazeera TV notes that Norwegian prosecutors on Tuesday filed a terrorism charge against Mullah Krekar, founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam. Mullah Krekar is accused of threatening a former minister, Erna Solberg, with death, Al-Jazeera says."
How curious that Krekar sprang to mind just moments after starting to read through all of this.
Of course, my heart goes out to the Norwegian people. We can only hope that this ― and not something on the order of a 9-11 atrocity ― will finally wake them up.
This is problematic because ― if the constant rape of Norwegian women by Muslims did not previously spark some serious reactions ― then the frog in that pot is already simmering.
It feels heartless to write these words, but Norway should count itself as fortunate in having their wake up call come with such a relatively small death toll. As trencherbone so aptly noted, there are echoes of Beslan reverberating in this. One can only hope that Norway will heed such a clarion call to arms.
More than anything else, as PatrickHenry observed:
If you elect one more liberal, you're all INSANE!
I'll go out on a limb here and venture that, unlike Britain ― whose colonial entanglements saw a quasi-justified influx of Pakistanis ― Norway had absolutely no compelling reason to admit so many Cultural Enrichers.
I suppose that paging Hesperado to the white courtesy telephone would serve some purpose here in order to have him explain how Norway's own endemic PCMC mentality drove all of this, but the massive cognitive disconnect required for an ethnically pure nation like Norway to abruptly infect itself with cultural and technological illiterates defies all explanation. Britain's own Raj-related lapse makes far more sense, at least by comparison.
This is an out-of-sequence comment:
Nick: It is possible then, that someone with non-AQ motives has carried out a terrorist attack using an AQ model. (Possibly using AQ-sourced material for instruction.) Which is why all these 'experts' on TV are suggesting an AQ link.
I challenge those engaging in this comments section to refute how, if anything, al Qaeda has ― more than any modern political force ― driven a new (post-World War II) paradigm of truly indiscriminate slaughter.
Please feel free to nominate the Tamil Tigers, "Palestinians" or other mass slaughter-oriented groups ahead of al-Qaeda.
The fact remains that al Qaeda is persistently linked to many of this world's most recent and abhorrent mass murders. Why should this wretched organization be absolved of any culpability for inspiring ― if not actually educating ― so many of those who perpetrate this world's atrocities, regardless of whether they do so out of Islamic beliefs of not?
Al Qaeda continues to educate the absolute worst bottom feeders of this world's most heinous criminal population. That others, who may or may not be Islamic, draw inspiration from such disseminated information about bulk murder in no way changes the need to exterminate all of those who support bin Laden's perverted brainchild.
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