Bomb hits Norway's Prime Minister's office

[Lucienne]

Thank you!

[Hyan]

Herre gud!

I blame multiculturalism

[solanis]

the summer camp shooting is horrifying, hopefully more details come soon...

[test123]

Gunman arrested on Utøya, 5+ people reported shot

[6souls]

i've been posting little news blurbs off of twitter in BG chat. last i've seen on island shooting was "eye witness reports 4 people shot and killed at island, witness now swimming for shore."

[Hellfury]

Last I heard (straight of Norwegian TV news), some of the first swimmers actually made it across (it's a pretty damned long swim). The gunman wasn't arrested yet according to TV2, but they could be slow in catching up.
"rumor" describes the shooter as 1.90 tall, blonde hair, fair skin.

They don't know much of anything still. But AUF (the youth party of Arbeiderpartiet) which is the political group currently at Utøya, has offices with Arbeiderpartiet (the main party itself) close ot the blast location, They're also the dominant party in the current government coalition.

interestingly, from what I hear, the leader of AUF made it to safety (this will make little sense to those not familiar with Norways WWII history, but.. it's a repeat pattern with those guys )

edits:
according to NRK (national broadcasting agency) they have indeed caught the perpetrator on Utøya, he was dressed as a policeman, used a semi-automatic weapon.

media are speculating wildly on who are behind the bombing now, most are leaning towards islamic terrorism due to Norways broad involvement (relative to our size) with foreign matters, others are pointing out the timing of the two incidents, and the one caught on Utøya seeming to be of Nordic origin.

The PM was supposed to pop on Utøya for a speech tomorrow.

It has been pointed out that the bomb went off after work hours, during the largest main holiday in the country.

outside of the media, people are generally pretty calm about matters.

police(?) just said on NRK that they're working under the assumption that the two events are connected and potentially politically motivated (note: they said who the dude saying it was really unclear, so I'm not 100% it was the police, and not a political commentator)

[Uzor]

I've heard rumors that he's hurt, but I assume that's false. If he would have been in his office at the time, he would probably be dead, since... You know, you could see his office from ground floor after the blast. I don't think he was even in the building.

[Hellfury]

I've heard rumors that he's hurt, but I assume that's false. If he would have been in his office at the time, he would probably be dead, since... You know, you could see his office from ground floor after the blast. I don't think he was even in the building.

You mean the PM? He's fine, in a "crisis meeting" right now.

[Gwynplaine]

Here was the article I was refering to earlier, but it turns out it was a story from Sweden not Norway. Some anarcho-eco terrorists who were going to bomb a nano-tech building.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ffic-stop.html

Still, it's worth wondering if it could be a similar group responsible.

[Hellfury]

Here was the article I was refering to earlier, but it turns out it was a story from Sweden not Norway. Some anarcho-eco terrorists who were going to bomb a nano-tech building.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ffic-stop.html

Still, it's worth wondering if it could be a similar group responsible.

well, to my knowledge, the energy and oil department are in the same location, but there would be more logical locations to target than there.
New press conference soon.


(NRK is currently dragging a parallells to IRA, ETA etc. >.> grasping for sensationalism. this is sheer stupidity)

7 dead, 2 seriously injured in the government area latest official number.

Press conference, police is currently working under the assumption that the two events are connected, but making it clear that it is too early.
Oslo politiet har en stor aksjon på utøya.
Nothing more new, press conference still going.

They're looking for more potential bombs (mysterious object currently being secured at TV2s offices in the capital ("large" news company))
two different police districts dealing with the situations.

(4 people dead, another 10 injured and hospitalized at Utøya, unconfirmed)

another edit: they say the bomb went off at 15:26, that'd be when most people were getting ready to leave work, not post-work as I said earlier.

[Uzor]

You mean the PM? He's fine, in a "crisis meeting" right now.

Yeah - I know - but there were rumors he got hurt in the bombing, but was now in a safe location, to which I said he likely wasn't even in the building.

Edit: Witness say he saw 20-30 bodies floating around in the water from the summer camp from people who didn't manage to swim to shore. Not confirmed dead, but it sounds bad.

Also, hell; was the shooter a politician or police officer? I've heard conflicting reports. One source claim he was dressed as a politician with a suit and tie, another as a police officer. Pardon my norwegian, but I can't hear the difference between police and politician on NRK :/

[Rammses]

Talk about 25+ dead or even more on the island now.... dead people floating in the sea and so on.. I have close family and many friends in Oslo, some of them affiliated with the party. With this kind of death toll I'm getting seriously concerned for their friends and families.

[archibaldcrane]

he was dressed as a policeman, used a semi-automatic weapon.

I always kinda hate this in news reports. Semi-automatic? You mean he wasn't using a muzzle-loader or a bolt-action!

This isn't the 1860s, every goddamn pistol out there basically is "semi-automatic". It just sounds scary.

[Azull]

I think its more to say he wasnt using a Fully Automatic Weapon.

[Hellfury]

I always kinda hate this in news reports. Semi-automatic? You mean he wasn't using a muzzle-loader or a bolt-action!

This isn't the 1860s, every goddamn pistol out there basically is "semi-automatic". It just sounds scary.

I do get your point. But just to argue for the sake of arguing:

Norway has a shitload of AG3s (fully automatic rifles) in private hands because of the home guard, so while I do see your point with regards to handweapons, it having been a _fully_ automatic weapon wouldn't have been that far fetched.

(edit: version of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler_%26_Koch_G3 )

[*Shinzon*]

Well not to mention guns used for illegal activities can always be modified to be automatic, albeit very very dangerously.

Anyway to sum up what we have here, the bomb and shooting are believed to be related on the surface, and they're looking at a home grown group here? Mention of a male fitting a european description before.

[Hellfury]

Well not to mention guns used for illegal activities can always be modified to be automatic, albeit very very dangerously.

Anyway to sum up what we have here, the bomb and shooting are believed to be related on the surface, and they're looking at a home grown group here? Mention of a male fitting a european description before.

last thing said was that they're working under the assumption that the events are connected (official statement), and the captured individial on the island seemed to be nordic looking (not police source last I heard)

it's a lot of rumours still, but the situation at Utøya seems to be by far the worst in terms of human loss.

[solanis]

Talk about 25+ dead or even more on the island now.... dead people floating in the sea and so on.. I have close family and many friends in Oslo, some of them affiliated with the party. With this kind of death toll I'm getting seriously concerned for their friends and families.

25+ children? I really hope not...

A terror group, Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami, or the Helpers of the Global Jihad, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, according to Will McCants, a terrorism analyst at C.N.A., a research institute that studies terrorism. The message said the attack was a response to Norwegian forces’ presence in Afghanistan and to unspecified insults to the Prophet Muhammad. “We have warned since the Stockholm raid of more operations,” the group said, according to Mr. McCants’ translation, apparently referring to a bombing in Sweden in December 2010. “What you see is only the beginning, and there is more to come.” The claim could not be confirmed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/23/wo...o.html?_r=1&hp

[Hellfury]

25+ children?

it was a youth camp, so most likely. (the death count is still a rumour thing)

[Uzor]

last thing said was that they're working under the assumption that the events are connected (official statement), and the captured individial on the island seemed to be nordic looking (not police source last I heard)

it's a lot of rumours still, but the situation at Utøya seems to be by far the worst in terms of human loss.

I thought the police press release a minute ago talked about them having found a connection between the two events and the person suspected of the shooting? They chose not to comment about whether or not he was a Norwegian - but witnesses state he looked Norwegian.