Terror in Norway

[Troy]

Yesterday Norway was stunned when a lone attacker first set off a car bomb outside the PM office and then went to an island and unleashed gun fire on a group of teenagers.

The facts so far;

• Seven of the victims were killed in a massive explosion which ripped through government buildings, including Stoltenberg's office and the finance ministry, in downtown Oslo.
• But it is thought that the bomber then caught a ferry to nearby Utoeya wearing a police uniform.
• According to witness testimony, he claimed to be investigating the bomb attack and began opening fire with an automatic weapon after beckoning youngsters towards him.
• Witnesses described scenes of panic and horror among the 560 people attending the youth camp. Some who tried to swim to safety were even shot in the water, according to witnesses.

Absolutely horrible situation and the death toll now stands at 92 with over 80 of those deaths coming at the island where a youth camp was being held. The man behind the attacks, Anders Behring Breivik, has been arrested and supposedly wants to explain his reason behind the attacks. He is a fundamentalist Christian (will the west now start a war or terror against Christians?) and had been planning this for a couple of years.
Just a terrible thing to happen and something that I would never expect to happen in somewhere like Norway.
The reaction of the media initially was pathetic because they automatically assumed it was Islamic terrorists before they knew all the facts. As I said before I wonder if this will lead to a campaign against Christians. I know it wont but it shows that there are extremists in all religions.

 

[Andrew]

Watching ABC24 as we speak here Troy.

It is very very sad that this has happened, Norway is very unheard of in the news and it looks like this man had a conflict against the Government. It's really sad that these people have died tragically, more stories will be revealed over the upcoming days.

 

[Troy]

It is ridiculous how people like this take out their frustrations on innocent people. If they are so unhappy where they are then either leave the country or take your own life and not the lives of nearly one hundred others. Sickening how people can come out and do this.

 

[Deezy]

Domestic terrorism seldom bring in newsbytes. Not as juicy as a story on a network of people looking to take down a society.

Sucks for Norway. But it's Norway, this will be overshadowed by Harry Potter or some shit.

 

[Troy]

Front page of the late edition of the local newspaper in Adelaide had Cadel Evans winning the Tour de France on the cover rather than this.

 

[Guano]

The event that happened in Norway is a tragedy, which seems to be reminiscent of The Columbine Shootings and The Oklahoma City Bombings a little over a decade ago. It's scary, but I can only imagine what the people of Norway went though and I send my deepest condolences for the people that were affected by this event.

 

[Deezy]

I would say it was more like Oklahoma City bombings than Columbine. Since it was a domestic terror attack.

I don't know why the guy did it, and why he didn't just listen to some black metal and kill himself like most of the crazies in Norway. There is a certain alienation of religion and anarchists in that country. I remember a story of churches being torched in the 90s.

 

[Troy]

He has a court hearing today in Norway and he wants to explain himself there, something about wanting to start a revolution. Through his lawyer he has admitted to the two attacks but denied criminal responsibility. Not sure how that works and I can't understand how someone would want to be his lawyer.

Read before that the maximum penalty he can received in Norway is 21 years in jail which would represent 82 days per person he killed. Surely death is the only punishment that fits his crime.