Norway ripped by Oslo bomb, youth camp shootings

Oslo, Norway - 23 July 2011 (AP): A bomb ripped open buildings in the heart of Norway's government Friday, and a man dressed as a police officer opened fire at an island youth camp connected to the ruling party. At least seven people were killed in the blast and a witness said more than 20 died in the camp shootings, the peaceful nation's worst violence since World War II.

Andre Scheie told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that he saw "very many dead by the shore" of the camp on Utoya island, where the youth wing of theLabor Partywas holding a summer camp for hundreds of youths. He said some victims were shot in the water after trying desperately to swim away. "There are about 20 to 25 dead," he said.

Police did not immediately confirm the account, butActing Police Chief Sveinung Sponheimsaid a suspect in the shooting has been arrested. He said police were still trying to get an overview of the camp shooting and could not say whether there was more than one shooter.

Aerial images broadcast by Norway's TV2 showed members of aSWATteam dressed in black arriving at the island in boats and running up the dock. Behind them, people stripped down to their underwear swam away from the island toward shore, some using flotation devices.

Sponheim said the arrested man also was linked to the bombing in Oslo, the capital and the city where theNobel Peace Prizeis awarded.

A square was covered in twisted metal, shattered glass and documents expelled from surrounding buildings, which house government offices and the headquarters of some of Norway's leading newspapers. Most of the windows in the 20-floor high-rise where Prime MinisterJens Stoltenbergand his administration work were shattered.

Stoltenberg was working at home Friday and was unharmed, according to senior adviser Oivind Ostang.

Sponheim wouldn't give any details about the shooting suspect, who he said was dressed in a police uniform when he opened fire into a crowd of youths.

A spokesman for Stoltenberg's Labor Party, Per Gunnar Dahl, said he couldn't confirm that there were fatalities at Utoya, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Oslo. The party's youth wing organizes an annual summer camp on the island, and Stoltenberg had been scheduled to speak there Saturday.

"There are at least five people who have been seriously wounded and have been transported to a local hospital," Dahl said. He said the shooting "created a panic situation where people started to swim from the island" to escape.

Police blocked off roads leading to the lake around Utoya. An AP reporter was turned away by police about 5-6 kilometers from the lake, as eight ambulances with sirens blaring entered the area.

In Oslo, police said the explosion was caused by "one or more" bombs, but declined to speculate on who was behind the attack. They later sealed off the nearby offices of broadcaster TV 2 after discovering a suspicious package.

Ian Dutton, who was in a nearby hotel, said the building "shook as if it had been struck by lightning or an earthquake." He looked outside and saw "a wall of debris and smoke."

Dutton, who is fromNew York, said the scene reminded him of Sept. 11 - people "just covered in rubble" walking through "a fog of debris."

"It wasn't any sort of a panic," he said, "It was really just people in disbelief and shock, especially in a such as safe and open country as Norway, you don't even think something like that is possible."

Public broadcaster NRK showed video of a blackened car lying on its side amid the debris. An AP reporter who was in the office of Norwegian news agency NTB said the building shook from the blast and all employees were evacuated. Down in the street, he saw one person with a bleeding leg being led away from the area.

The explosion occurred at 3:30 p.m. (1330 GMT), as Ole Tommy Pedersen stood at a bus stop 100 meters (yards) away.

"I saw three or four injured people being carried out of the building a few minutes later," Pedersen told AP.

TheUnited States,European Union,Natoand the U.K., all quickly condemned the bombing, which Britain's Foreign SecretaryWilliam Haguecalled "horrific" and Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen deemed a "heinous act."

In Washington, state department spokeswoman Heide Bronke Fulton called the violence "despicable." There has been no confirmation of any US casualties, she said. The US Embassy inNorwaywarned Americans to avoid downtown Oslo.

The US has offered help to Norwegian authorities but there has been no specific request for assistance, she said.

The attacks come as Norway grapples with a homegrown terror plot linked to al-Qaida. Two suspects are in jail awaiting charges.