**Terror in Oslo** UPDATE: Anders Breivik gets 8 weeks of custody

[Kryzantine]

How can a "suspicious car" ( a van stuffed with explosives should mark suspicion ) get so close to such a important building in Oslo? I don;t know about you , but if I wanted to park my car outside the Parliament 1. I wouldn't be allowed if I wasn't a employ , 2 I would almost immediately trigger the security system .

Not trying to minimize the tragedy , but Norway might want to tighten its security in these troubled times . Also , lets not kid ourselves , this has terrorist attack all over it . Norway residents are very peaceful people ( 1 crime per year or even 0? ) and have it better than most of Europe now due to oil , so , no , I am 100% sure a Norwegian wouldn't be able to do this . This is the way we Europeans are repaid for allowing foreigners to live their lives here , almost always with religion freedom ( Oh , hai , France ) . Think it's time we stop and make a more drastic immigration policy , especially for the likes that may cause harm to our citizens ( people that seem to not be able to understand anything past the Quran ,former terrorist members now going "good" etc)

A Norwegian is perfectly capable of doing it, it's just a question of if they did it. A Norwegian would arouse less suspicion as well.

That said, that this appears to be a gas canister explosion suggests that this is a message job more than anything. Now, if I was a home-grown terrorist who actually wanted to cause some damage and try to make some change, I would use a fertilizer bomb. Think Oklahoma City bombing. So it's not a one-man job. There are two theories left at this point - Muslim extremists, which we should give another day, because so far, no organization has stepped up to take credit for this attack; or an internal terrorist group, which is also unlikely, Norway is incredibly stable. So I guess Europe is waiting on somebody to come forward and take the credit for the attack, which really has Norway shaken up. We should be more worried if nobody takes credit for this hit, because that means that they want to wage an actual war on the Norwegian power.

 

[DVS Storm]

Wow....I'm pretty speechless right now. I live in Finland and I have Norwegian friends so this struck pretty close home. I just hope that they find who did it soon.

 

[RA92]

Believe it or not, if this is an extremist muslim group that's done this, you don't have to have done anything. They'll want to kill you simply because you're not of the same faith (or none at all).

You don't need a reason better than "it's a developed western democratic country".

See, here's the thing: extremist muslims blow up mosques and madrasas quite regularly, especially in Pakistan (not to mention war zones like Iraq). Just a couple of days back some imbecile blew up 50 kids being trained as clerics.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Oh shit, now there's a shooting rampage too?! That's probably not a coincidence.

You have my sympathies...again. Man, this is insane.

 

[e033x]

Just heard on the news that the shooter on Utøya was caught.

 

[Deadlock Radium]

Oh shit, now there's a shooting rampage too?! That's probably not a coincidence.

You have my sympathies...again. Man, this is insane.

The thing is that the bomb went off near the Prime Minister's office, and the shooting "coincidentally" occured where another top politician is apparently located.

This is organized, and hopefully, the Police Security Force (PST in Norwegian) will stop this before any more casualties occur. I've been told there's five casualties so far from the shooting and even more injured. People are trying to swim away, and special police units are on the way.

 

[Kelthurin]

This really hasn't sunk into me yet, but I know that we haven't had anything like this, I don't know, since the war or something. I'll be monitoring this for the days to come.

I am also very confused. Why? What have we done?

Norway is still in Afghanistan, that might be it. Besides, Scandinavia don't have the best reputation with Islam, due to those Muhammad caricatures.

Perhaps. Either way, we need to shoot that prat at Utøya already. He's still alive and kicking as far as I know.

 

[icame]

I sure hope not too many people were killed. Fucking terrorists...

 

[Shycte]

Yeah, it's been all over the news. Fucking sick. Altough it's strange that everone goes "Muslims did it" even though no group have claimed resposibility.

My thoughts go to the victims and their families.

My biggest fear now is that the Xenophobic semi-facist parties that have started to gain foothold will use this to grow even more. In times like this we most stay strong, we most stay open-hearted and true to our beliefs of a democratic open society. Do not close the borders, do not retreat.

Do not fall for the acts of a mad man.

 

[Deadlock Radium]

According to my brother who's been watching the news, they've released details about the shooter:
- About 1 meter 90 cm tall.
- Blonde
- Well trained
- Pulled out a machine gun in the middle of a crowd and started shooting.

This is getting more and more horrible by the second.

 

[maturin]

Point me to the christian suicide bombers who killed dozens of people

Point me to the Muslim Holocaust mastermind. The most massive, atrocious atrocities the world has ever seen have been committed by those sick, murderously fanatical Christian Europeans. You would have to be insane to let a white man in a tophat anywhere near a heavy weapon. Just applying your judgment consistently here.

and all the christian theocracies out there, and then we'll talk.

There's only one Muslim theocracy in the world, genius, and it's more democratic than most of our Middle Eastern allies. There have been lots of Christian theocracies.

The only difference between the trespasses of Christianity and Islam is that Christian countries successfully dominated, enslaved and brutalized the entirety of the world (minus Bhutan) and took its resources, laying the foundations for advanced economies and liberal ideology. We stole the luxury needed for moral niceties, and the losers are left with the messed-up societies and the weapons of the weak.

Religion is fake, what societies do with it is real.

 

[Ham_authority95]

Around 15:20 GMT+1, today (22.07), several explosions went off in Oslo, Norway. The cause is still unknown, and the casualties are unknown, but feared to be large. The bombs went off near the government buildings, blowing windows out of many buildings are starting fires.
CNN Article: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/22/blast-rips-through-norways-capital-injuries-reported/?hpt=hp_t1
Live feed (norwegian): http://www.nrk.no/nett-tv/direkte/nrk1/
The Prime Minister is in safety.

PICTURES:

Spoiler

I will update the post as more news are coming in.

Update: One person is confirmed dead.
Update: Police confirms it was a bomb, making it an act of terror.
Update: Two persons confirmed dead.
Update: Ten persons confirmed with serious injuries.
Update: A person dressed as police has begun shooting wildly on a political youth camp with 700 teens at Utøya, Buskerud. Political person Gro Brundtland were supposedly there.

Shit, this is fucked. I'm going to Denmark in less than 4 days, which is less than 400 miles south of there.

I just hope that nobody else dies and the airports aren't shut down in Denmark. I'm getting on that plane to see my fucking girlfriend, explosions or not.

 

[Weaver]

Why do people think Muslims did it?
Due to the proximity of politial buildings, I'd wager this was politcally motivated. Given the shootings on a labour party youth camp, my bet is on a disgruntled, right wing nut job.

 

[Tay051173096]

I take it that Norway has still got troops in the middle east...

 

[Craorach]

My thoughts and prayers (to whatever deity might exist because hey, might as well try) go out to all those involved.. both the victims and the people who for some reason have had such messed up lives they feel this is needed.

It's sad to see everyone jumping to conclusions about who was responsible when we have no idea until someone claims responsibility and/or there is evidence to support it.

Terrorism isn't restricted to one race, creed or code. It isn't even restricted to the "wrong" side.

 

[Ritter315]

I don't mean to dishonor the memories of those died and hurt but..why Norway? Yes it's in Europe, there are a lot of Muslims now living there but..the target just seems a bit out of place to me. I think terrorists need a little more strategic direction, then again if they had that I doubt they'd still be using bombing attacks.

 

[OpiumSkittle]

For those wondering why, some person on BBC just stated that it *could* be homegrown terrorism, specifically Asian/Pakistani gangs.

 

[Pariah164]

Good lord. Those poor, poor people. My prayers are with them, and I will donate as soon as my paycheck clears.

 

[Terminal Blue]

There's only one Muslim theocracy in the world, genius, and it's more democratic than most of our Middle Eastern allies. There have been lots of Christian theocracies.

..and there are several today. None are recognized by the international community as sovereign countries, but that doesn't stop them holding territory and hacking people to death with machetes in the name of Jesus.

And until we have a clear statement of responsibility, it's pointless to guess as to the motive. Even news agencies will not have reliable sources yet. As with any large event, it will take time for a clearer picture to emerge. Blaming Muslims at this point is just throwing fuel on the fire, the last thing anyone needs is innocent Muslim people being victimized or attacked because of baseless assumptions.