Norway: More than 70 dead in Twin Attacks

[moxie]

...because there is no right forum. Someone bombed the Norwegian government buildings - Big badaboom, think Oklahoma bombing. Someone went to a Norwegian summer camp, dressed as a police, and started killing people. Kids. 13-14 year olds. In Oslo, at least 7 dead. On the summer camp (on an island) there are 10 "comfirmed dead", but the police says the death toll will rise, and according to reports from witnesses there will be many, many more dead. The killer hunted them down. Some tried to swim to safety (from the island) and he picked them off with a sniper rifle.


Bastard. This is a well and truly fucked up day. Whisky to the rescue.


To any pandorians from Norway: Hope you are safe. Hope your friends and family are safe. Hope there are no pandoras lying in the grass on Utøya .

 

[Stradian]

This is very alarming. I hope the animals who are behind the attacks are put down in the most dishonorable fashion.

 

[Blue Protoman]

This is an outrage! What the hell could have caused this!?

 

[Eridger]

Around 80 confirmed dead. I think around seven from the bomb, rest from the camp. The guy disguised as a police officer used the bombing as a way of easily entering the camp, so it was obviously either coordinated or done by the same guy. Unless of course some guy was watching the news, police uniform, pistol and machine gun in hand, and saw it as a perfect opportunity to gun down children...


The world has gone mental, everyone knows that. But it's surprising to see how quickly it's devolving.

 

[Nintendo]

Norway: More than 80 dead in Twin Attacks

Key facts:

Police say death toll is at least 87


The two attacks are believed to be linked


The suspected gunman has been arrested and Norway's national broadcaster has named him as Anders Behring Breivik


Central Oslo has been shut down in the wake of attacks


Attacks described as "worst in Norway since World War II"


DFAT says no reports of Australians injured

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-23/norway-hit-by-twin-attacks/2807138

And I thought Norway was such a safe country?

Such a terrible tragedy, why Norway? It is such a peaceful country. What could warrant such attacks?


Are there any Norwegians on this forum? If so, I hope nobody close has been hurt.

 

[Sugar_Kane]

One thing I'll never understand as long as I live; how does killings innocent civilians prove any political point.


I read the news story and it makes me very sad. It says he came across on the ferry, posing as a policeman.When he arrived on the island he asked everyone to gather around so that he could ask questions and when they had he started opening fire. There is nothing they could ever do to this man that would make him pay for his actions.

 

[Nintendo]

Governments are never going to care about innocent deaths.


Man: "I'm going to kill many of the innocent here."


Government: "Who cares!"

 

[Viking]

Thanks Moxie, I'm fine, I live about 7 hours from were it happened. Been watching the news for over 8 hours.


It's true, about 80 kids (14-17 years) have been slaughtered at a small island called "Utøya". The man most likely behind the attack (Anders Behring) is under costudy and he was dressed up as a police man. He arrived in a van, with a bulletproof west, sub machinegun and several grenades. He slagthered these kids without mercy, just shooting at anything that was moving. Several tried to escape by swimming, and most of them got away thanks to some locals that were allready out there with a boat.


This is truly a sad time for Norway, but as our prime minister said to the attackers "You will not destroy us. You will not destroy our democracy or our ideals for a better world."

 

[Viking]

And yeah, our strictes punishment in Norway is 21 years in jail. So I hope we make some adjustments for these two, atleast for Anders Behring...

 

[Eridger]

And yeah, our strictes punishment in Norway is 21 years in jail. So I hope we make some adjustments for these two, atleast for Anders Behring...

Really? Nothing more than that? Not even in Norwegian history?

 

[MarioPandio]

Apparently a nasty old method of execution used to exist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_eagle but it could well just be fanciful Christian Myth designed to make the Pagans worship of Odin seem barbaric. Even if real though, the irony is that the Christian methods of torture for heretics etc were far far more brutal and blood lust loony.


I am deeply appalled at these incidents particularly the shootings of the kids. Takes a true psycho or unhinged person to do such a thing at close range to victims, plus he didn't turn the gun on himself as is the norm, so there is zero feeling in this person or trained killer. I see numerous Islamic groups have claimed responsibility as well and yet this shooter is apparently Christian. Something very odd about the whole thing.


The victims families have my sympathies and condolences. I hope that justice can be served when it is clear who is responsible for both incidents and why.

 

[Halcyon]

I promise this will return to target, so give me a few lines here.


I was in the US when 9-11 happened and i recall all the mess and sadness pretty well but what really seemed to strike a nerve with me is people who claim responsibility but didnt do the deed. I dont want to say that this is the sickest part or worst thing because clearly the act is what caused the deaths and not the lies, but it really gets me going emotionally and with out taking to time to be calm and collected in my thoughts my first reaction is ok sure you confess and relish in this tragedy then be prepared to pay the price for the crimes you claim to have committed. You should not be entitled to free publicity and be associated with a monstrous crime and not have that cost anything. In my mind some of the blame lies with the news media, I understand full well they are corporations, and I get it and support their need to generate a profit but paying lip service to every wacko and terrorist group that says me me me, doesn't do anything but obfuscate the story and make a tragedy a drama which is easier for them to bundle up and sell, not easier for people with emotional duress to process.


Well that is my two cents, May those that can have a speedy recovery may those that can not be remembered with dignity.

 

[moxie]

We don't do capital punishment in the nordic countries anymore - As in most civilized societies, it was abolished long ago (except possibly in war time). Still, this is probably a case were there would be support for a proper life sentence.


The guy who is arrested is a norwegian national, with fundamentalist christian views and very conservative nationalistic political views. Or, as we may put it more informally, a right-wing xenophobic nutter. Except he's not a nutter in the unhinged kind of way - So far, what transpired points to a very rational and well-planned multi-stage deed. First the bombs against the government buildings, ensuring that police, emergency services and media were well engaged there. Then he went off to this rather remote summer camp island, dressed as a police officer under the pretense to do a security check-up re the Oslo bombs. Then he started shooting and killing. There are some rather disturbing eyewitness reports out (in norwegian) from the survivors, about how the killer called out things like "It is ok, it is the police. I'm here to bring you to safety", about how he meticulously executed wounded kids lying on the ground. About whoops and hollers of victory. One surviving girl writes about how she survived by playing dead in a pile of corpses - The killer fired into he pile, but apparently missed her.


This is very Timothy McVeigh-ish. The summer camp was arranged by the governing political party, which he accused of "selling out the country" to multiculturalists and commies.


There are also reports that there might have been a second, as yet unidentified, gunman.


All sucks.

 

[gadgetoid]

I see numerous Islamic groups have claimed responsibility as well and yet this shooter is apparently Christian. Something very odd about the whole thing.

About as odd as it gets. As Halcyon so eloquently puts it, claiming responsibility for an atrocity you did not commit, merely to further your agenda, is in and of itself, a fairly depraved act. Unfortunately, if we could so easily hunt down and eradicate such groups, we would have done so already.


Reading the first-hand accounts is absolutely horrifying, the gunman was committing merciless and meticulous executions, checking bodies to ensure they were dead, or simply shooting them again. I couldn't begin to fathom the sort of mind that can do such things, having so little regard for life and such shocking determination to make what I can only assume is some ill conceived point.


It's a shame that the human survival mechanism at times like these is flight, rather than fight. Not to belittle those who ran for their lives, I would certainly do the same. But were we altogether different then such atrocities would, perhaps, not make it quite so far as they do.

with fundamentalist christian views and very conservative nationalistic political views

With Islamic Extremism so eager to get our attention, we've all but forgotten just how much more profoundly insane acts have been committed in the act of the Christian God. Of course, it's ancient history , but history tends to repeat itself and should not be so readily forgotten.


That said, even those without a God will find something to get ruthlessly passionate about in this day and age.

 

[moxie]

And yes, it is darkly ironic that several fundamentalist islamic fractions - the very symbols of what this man considered the enemy - rushed to take responsibility, and that media worldwide were so quick to run with it. In my mind, it just shows that really, this kind of high rhetoric secterism is all the same, no matter if the sect is islamistic, nationalistic or socialistic. And that our media are really, really happy to blame "the other".

 

[Stradian]

And yes, it is darkly ironic that several fundamentalist islamic fractions - the very symbols of what this man considered the enemy - rushed to take responsibility, and that media worldwide were so quick to run with it. In my mind, it just shows that really, this kind of high rhetoric secterism is all the same, no matter if the sect is islamistic, nationalistic or socialistic. And that our media are really, really happy to blame "the other".

I think, for the extremists, they would like to try to lay claim to another scalp, for they believed they influenced this individual.

 

[Nintendo]

I bet you that a video game(s) WILL get blamed again. When are people going to realize that Video games do not kill people...PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE!!! Down right disgusting!!!


http://kotaku.com/5824147/oslo-terrorist-anders-behring-breivik-used-modern-warfare-2-as-training+simulation-world-of-warcraft-as-cover

 

[DaMummy]

 

[Nintendo]

Christian Terrorists, lol...that's a new one to look out for.

 

[Blue Protoman]

What happens when atheists (or agnostics) start terrorizing people? It'll be interesting to see what kinds of attempted structures near attack sites get denounced...like libraries. Or biology labs. Or statues of Charles Darwin.