Bombing in Oslo kills 7; up to 25 feared dead in shooting

T

This Year's Girl

Grateful grapefruit
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Sineya
In short, this is what happened:

A powerful bomb tore into the heart of Oslo today, killing at least seven people and injuring 15 as it ripped open buildings including the prime minister's office, while a gunman dressed as a police officer opened fire at a political youth camp on an nearby island.

Police said they believed incidents were connected, but could not immediately confirm Norwegian media reports that several people were killed at the camp.

An eyewitness said he saw between 20 and 25 bodies.

Police Inspector Bjoern Erik Sem-Jacobsen said a suspect in the shooting was arrested. He said the suspect pulled out a gun and started firing into the crowd of youths.

The prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, was working at home at the time of the bombing - the first in Norway since the Second World War - and was unharmed, according to his senior adviser Oivind Ostang.

I'm a shaken by this - Norway is very close to Sweden, and you don't expect things like this to happen. I work in a big mall in a big city in Sweden and we were under a bomb threat about 6 months ago, so I'm thinking if something like this could go down in sweden it wouldn't be unlikely it would happen at my work. :/ I'm also worried this could lead to more xenophobic attitudes in Sweden / Scandinavia. It has definitely been going on for a few years now with racist parties that receive more power in several countries of Scandinavia. If this turns out to be something that is done by extremists within Islam (which is NOT confirmed, only speculated in media, they don't know who is behind this at all yet, it could be something completely different), I fear that people who practice Islam in a peaceful way (as the vast majority do) and those of teams that have a different ethnicity than Swedish / Scandinavian will be exposed to more racism. 🙁

I hope all our norweigan BB friends and their loved ones are OK. My thoughts are with you.
 
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Hearing about everything that's happened today just makes me feel sick. I don't know much about Norway and its politics but I never thought it had a reputation for being anything other than friendly and peaceful. My thoughts are with those affected by the events today and hope those who carried it out are brought to justice.
 
Professor Walsh
Professor Walsh
This is the most aggressive act that has happened in Norway after WW2.
I am ok, and as far as I know all my loved ones are, too. For a few years I've been living and working outside the city, but for several years this was where I walked to work. And the shooting at the Labour party youth camp .... I have no words. It's a massacre.

But I refuse to allow hate to grow in the wake of this. The answer to this shall be more democracy, more openness, not less.

---------- Post added at 11:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:59 PM ----------

For the record: Seven dead from the bomb in the capital. Probably nine or ten at the youth camp, but that is not entirely confirmed as the youth camp is at an island where kids hid in the forest and tried swimming to the mainland.
 
I
InsaneMystic
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Kean
Kean
Thinking of you.
P
prophecygrrl
[No message]
I have Norwegian ancestry, and I have to say that this is getting to me- not least because we've not had any contact with my great-grandfather's family for generations so some of the people involved might be relatives I never knew I had.

I don't know anything about politics in the Nordic countries, but I would guess it might not be too different from the Dutch situation where extremists are saying that you can only have a free and liberal society if you exclude Islam. Our news is reporting that somebody has been captured, however, so hopefully they can find out more from him.
 
Professor Walsh
Professor Walsh
Yes, the gunman is captured. He is Norwegian.
It is absolutely devastating to hear about violence like this. My thoughts and prayers and prayers go out to everyone affected.
 
Thank you.

I just got up to see the news myself. It's unbelievable. Unbelievable by any standards, but particularly in a country with less than 5 million inhabitants.
 
Washburne
Washburne
Thoughts are with you, your family and countrymen.
I was horrified to see this 🙁 So sad, like 80 kids dead? Imagine the horror of being trapped on an island with nowhere to go with a maniac like that... And he killed them for his 'beliefs' of course (Quote from his Twitter apparently; One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests.” ), it's just so... pointless. Violence only breeds more violence, a lesson that never seems taken to heart. 🙁

My heart goes out to Norway.
 
Tragic, very tragic. As it would be anywhere but the closer to you it is the more it's likely to affect you. Sad but true we (Scandinavians) wouldn't care as much (not saying we wouldn't care) if it were say in Africa, Middle east, Asia or South America. The same goes the other way around. The further away the less it's likey to affect. A "survival" thing I guess since if you felt as much for every tragedy in the world you'd lost your mind a long time ago.

The bombing is bad enough but it's the killing on the island that really gets to me. Thoughts to everyone affected and my mind definitely went to our norwegian friends here when I heard about it.
 
Taake
Taake
[No message]
I read this in the car with my friends last night and couldn't believe it. This is so horrible. My thoughts go out to those affected.
 
It's tragic. I can't believe it happened in country like Norway. Now I'm really glad that I live in a place which is neutral and have no terrorism. But things like that make me sure that I can't think "It can't happen, not at my place". It can be anywhere. So sad.
All my thoughts go to families of these people. Oh My God, the saddest thing is that the victims were so YOUNG. They were at my age.
 
Although I've not visited Norway I have done with Sweden and Finland and it's heartbreaking to hear this tragic news coming from a fellow Scandinavian country. To me this is the most tragic news to hear especially over Amy Winehouse's death. Still this weekend has been such a sad one with all this sad news altogether. My thoughts are with those in Norway who have lost loved ones through this maniac's sick beliefs.
 
The shock is reverberating through the whole country and will do so for at least a generation. For one person to murder over 90 people in a few hours is in itself shocking. But not only did he murder people who were someone's children, someone's siblings, someone's friends and someone's parents, in choosing to attack the AUF (the Labour Party Youth) camp, this extreme right-winger weeded out a great number of tomorrow's Norwegian politicians.

This video is a song called "Mitt lille land" ("My Little Country"), here combined with pictures and clips from the news. My poor, little country.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_9BTHcpssM&feature=share"]‪Maria Mena Mitt lille land 2 min.‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]
 
In one way it's made up my mind- I've been trying to decide where I want to go for my 40th birthday next year, and now I've decided that I'm going to see the country of my ancestors.
 
I can't even comprehend this, it's so awful. This gunman didn't have a mental breakdown or snap. He planned this cold, calculated massacre. He didn't target random people either. he blew up the left-wing politicians and then tried to wipe out the next generation of left-wingers. His intent was to eliminate them. Children. Like they were the heirs to the throne and he had just killed the king or something. He must be either some sociopath/psychopath or the most evil man alive.

Apparently he's being described as a right-wing Christian who has been known to dabble in neo-Nazism. The sad thing about that quote on Twitter is that it was obviously a cautionary statement about inhuman people like him, and he proved it gladly.
 
I've kind of been avoiding this thread for a few days. It takes me a few days to absorb things like this.

I actually still can't think straight about it it.

I mean, I keep thinking about the families. Their lives will never be the same.

And what it must have been like on the island . . . which is something that I can't ever really understand.

What belief system could be worth killing for?

That was kinda rhetorical btw. I don't expect answers really, it's just all so senseless.
 
I was completely shocked to hear about this! Norway doesn't get a lot of terrorist activity on that big a level (not entirely surprised to hear that there hasn't been that big of an attack since WWII). I hope everyone is ok and my thoughts are definitely with y'all.
 
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