Monday, 25 July 2011

Norway gunman 'has accomplices'

Norwegian police are investigating claims by Anders Behring Breivik, who has admitted carrying out Friday's twin attacks in Norway, that he has "two more cells" working with him.
Mr Breivik made the claim as he attended his first court hearing following the bombing in Oslo and a massacre on an island youth camp that killed at least 93 people in total.
Mr Breivik, 32, said his attacks were a "strong signal" to Norway's people.
He was detained for eight weeks.
Oslo police asked for Mr Breivik to be held in full isolation for the first four weeks.
Judge Kim Heger agreed, saying Mr Breivik could not receive letters or have visitors except for his lawyer.
Judge Heger said police must be able to proceed with the investigation into Mr Breivik's claims without the accused being able to interfere.
I was reminded of the Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh, and America's paranoid strain, as I read through the manifesto of Anders Behring Breivik.
For at least nine years he carried anger towards the changes occurring in Norwegian society. He did not accept the multicultural country that was emerging. It threatened his identity and he felt alienated from it. He was in contact with other extreme groups who increasingly saw Islam as a danger and the enemy.
Like McVeigh, Mr Breivik saw his country's political establishment as the real enemy. So the target that formed in his mind was not immigrant groups, but the government itself, and young people who were attached to the ruling left-leaning Labour Party.
Survivors I have spoken to speak of his calmness: a man locked in an internal world of hatred but maintained by a belief that what he was doing was justified.
Mr Breivik had earlier said he had acted alone.
Mr Breivik has been charged under the criminal law for acts of terrorism. The charges include the destabilisation of vital functions of society, including government, and causing serious fear in the population.
The judge said Mr Breivik had admitted carrying out the attacks but had not pleaded guilty to the charges.
Judge Heger had earlier ruled that the hearing should be held behind closed doors.
He had said: "It is clear that there is concrete information that a public hearing with the suspect present could quickly lead to an extraordinary and very difficult situation in terms of the investigation and security."
There had been concern among many Norwegians that Mr Breivik would use the hearing to deliver a speech seeking to justify his actions.
Instead Judge Heger summarised Mr Breivik's words in his post-hearing statement.
The judge said Mr Breivik had argued that he was acting to save Norway and Europe from Muslim colonisation.
The gunman had said his operation was not aimed at killing as many people as possible but that he wanted to create the greatest loss possible to Norway's governing Labour Party, which he accused of failing the country on immigration.
The bomb in Oslo targeted buildings connected to the Labour Party government, and the youth camp on Utoeya island was also run by the party.
In addition to the seven people killed in Oslo and 86 on Utoeya, at least 96 people were injured in the attacks.
Political postponement Separately, Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, in his first interview with a British broadcaster, told the BBC's Jon Sopel that the attacks would change his country but that it would "still be open and democratic".
Judge Kim Heger: "The accused believes he needed to carry out these attacks''
Mr Stoltenberg said he knew many of those who had died and now was the time to look after the wounded and the families that had lost loved ones.
He said he believed no country could ever fully protect itself from attacks such as these.
He also thanked the international community for its response.
Earlier at 1200 local time, Mr Stoltenberg, at Oslo University, declared one minute's silence in remembrance of the victims.
Thousands of people stood around a carpet of flowers at Oslo cathedral.
One Oslo citizen, Sven-Erik Fredheim, told Reuters: "It is important to have this minute of silence so that all the victims and the parents of the families know that people are thinking about them."
Meanwhile, Norway has postponed the start of party political campaigns ahead of the 12 September election, the Aftenposten newspaper reports.
The campaigning is now set to start during the second half of August.

taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14280210

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