(h/t Anna Virginia in the comments)
From NRK, Norwegian media. Click for the gallery.
We're just getting in the first reports and pictures from a blast at the government building that houses the prime minister's office at about 9:44 a.m. Eastern. (10:30 AM UPDATE from MSNBC. Several reported injured, one known fatality, PM Jens Stoltenberg not injured.)
11:50 AM UPDATE: New York Times report from Oslo/tons of video // 2:50 PM UPDATE Details on the shootings at the Labor Party youth camp at Utoya.
From Norway's TV 2.
EARLIER:
@finansakrobat, a Norwegian finance writer, tweets that he was there and fortunate to escape with his life. "Many major politicians could be injured or dead," he writes. "The PMs was core of the blast. Also VG, the newspaper, suffered damage. Also NHD-building."
Photo yfrogged by @geirolav, forwarded by @brunsame
The picture below comes from @chaglen, who's part of a financial news site. "An entire block has exploded!" he writes.
Early reports from the Norway media, with pics, here and here. Reuters says Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was not injured. The blast appears to have taken out most of the windows of the 17-story building, Reuters says. Nearby ministries are on fire. It's not clear what caused the explosion, but Reuters reports the tangled wreckage of a car outside one of the buildings.
More pics from the scene collecting here.
Tweeted by @chaglen
Leave a Comment:
Going to be interesting to see who will step up.
AQ?
well guess will have to wait and see how it all unfolds.
sounds like it could be a big. as far as the bomb went.
If the whole "an entire block has exploded" is to believed, that would indicate something like a gas line explosion or something more than a terrorist activity, yes?
I think (as someone from the public) it is too early to label it as a "terrorist" attack. It'd be a different story if we were on the "inside" and had already received a letter from someone claiming responsibility for something.
With Love and Gratitude,
Jeremiah
Re gas: On another site a Norwegian was saying there is not a lot of gas use in Norway and no gas lines in that area
Who do the people of Norway threaten? Amazing how the evil people will kill anyone and everyone if given the opportunity.
If I hadn't read the article I'd have thought they were pictures of Oklahoma City. Such a sad situation.
Yep. As an OKC resident I feel a bit sick looking at the pictures. I hope everyone is OK. Please.
It looks just like the Murrah Federal Building. The question would be who has a beef with Norway?
who has a beef with Norway?
wasn`t that cartoones from Norway?
Nope, the cartoons were from Denmark.
Cartoonist was from Denmark I believe, but there were protests and an attempt in Norway over that controversy.
OK thanks,
Looks so reminiscent of the Murrah Building scene it is eerie. I pray that the injuries and death toll remain limited. I worked at the OKC bombing site during rescue efforts and I still have nightmares at times.
Oh Kelly.
Even more eerie now that we know it was home grown! And the death toll, OMG!
It was the same story all over again.
"Norwegian TV2 Nyhetskanalen just confirmed the Oslo explosion was caused by a bomb." via @PetV
Jesus.
Why isn't this on the news right now? They're talking about Arnold Schwarzeneger's child support and Tiger Woods' caddy.
Twitter is owning the news right now. Just look for #oslo on Twitter.
I live in Oslo actually, and am in the city right now, but a few miles away from where the explosion took place (I work at the university). Lots of photos here, even if you don't read norwegian: http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/norge/1.7722919
My friend who shares an office with me lives less than a block from the site of the explosion, we're hoping his windows have survived...
Thanks, Anna. I'm adding this site.
Yeah, everyone in Oslo is officially freaking out a little bit, and for good reason. I just spent the past hour watching the news here at work. 7 are now confirmed dead from the bombing, and the reports from Utøya simply say that many people have been shot by a man in police uniform. There were 560 youth on the island when the shooting began, and keep in mind that these teenagers were camping in tents, not cabins, so there was nowhere for them to go for cover. Here is a good photo of Utøya: NRK is reporting that a lot of people swam to the mainland to escape the shooting.
The silver lining is that the attackers' lack of knowledge about Norwegian culture probably saved a lot of lives. Most workplaces are already beginning to clear out by 3:30pm, especially on a Friday. And on top of that, choosing a Friday in July? July is the traditional summer vacation month here. I would say that only 5-10% of the normal volume of people are working at my workplace (the University of Oslo) this month, and it is probably more dramatic elsewhere. (Yes, even in Norway, academics tend to be workaholics.) And most of the people who are not taking the month off are foreigners, like me.
I remember back in the old days...back before I learned that there were no WMDs or AQ training camps in Iraq...back before politicians in my own country began to attack my own country with tax, trade, and regulatory (the lack thereof, rather) policies that could only bring harm to the American people...
I remember back when I would have been content to assume who was behind this explosion. Faintly.
Assuming it was a bomb, that is.
ABC says that sources are saying it was a vehicle bomb: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/oslo-explosion-blast-result-massive-vehicle-bomb-sources/story?id=14134197
photos look like downtown Manhattan/911.
I can't imagine anyone having a beef with Norway...although Norway did just take a stand three days ago and endorsed UN recognition of Palestine. There are only 2 countries that don't support Palestinian statehood.
Norway also was the first country to Bomb Q`dafly`s compound.
remember the just how bad do you have to be to have Norway drop a bomb on you.
guess more speculation to add.
I work 1-2 blocks away from where the explosion happened. All of a sudden there was a huge noise, the building was shaking, and we heard glass breaking. The windows where I worked did not break, but we could see a lot of other ones had, and we didn't know what happened at the time. The fire alarm went off, so we evacuated and could see that there was a lot of glass broken, but not too much other damage near us, luckily. We couldn't stick around because glass was still falling.
I've posted a few pictures I took around my office: http://twitpic.com/photos/tallanvor
We had a mad man in my hometown open fire on a crowd at a political rally. Remember January 8th in Tucson? He wasn't muslim or Al Qaeda. Neither was Timothy McVeigh. Nutters come in all colors and faiths so I think it is far too soon to assume this was an al qaeda attack.
Considering that apparently multiple sites were hit, according to CNN, it makes it far more likely that it was an operation like Al Qaeda, which has made such simultaneous multiple attacks something of a trademark.
Justice for Palestine insinuates Israel was behind the bombing. Bit foolish, given that Islamists repeatedly have bombed innocents while Israel specifically targets individuals. For what it's worth, there are a number of countries that reportedly will vote against PA statehood.
No, I wouldn't expect this of Israel. Their MO is targetted assasination, not wholesale destruction with car bombs.
So, "flere", is that "5"? 500 meters, Wow!
"Flere" means "more."
Danish tv reporting that 2 fatalities and 15 injured have been confirmed, but some people might still be trapped or dead in the buildings.
The Oslo police commander said that, given the damage, several bombs might have gone off with at least one very big one.
Thank you very much! :D I googled it and got "several"..so pretty close.
One more question, if you don't mind. I've been running around the Facebook thread on this and someone mentioned the shooter, dressed as a Police Officer, was a member of the AUF (Social Democratic Youth Organization). Would this group be anything like the National Socialist Party of Germany in the 1920's? (I can't see a "liberal socialist" using a gun as a "first choice" form of protest.)
No, the Social Democrats are nothing like the National Socialist Party of yesteryears Germany.
The Social Democrats is the classical labour party, on the left wing of the political spectrum (albeit one of the most centrist of the left wing parties).
I haven't heard anything about the shooter being part of any party, the camp on the island, however, was a common occurrence arranged by the Social Democrats' youth organization. The shooter has been described, though, as Norwegian in appearance, 6'1"-6'4" tall and blond hair.
7 people have been reported dead from the shooting on the island so far.
The bombing in Oslo and the shooting on the island are two different situations, that may or may not be connected.
I saw a report that the PM had been scheduled to speak to the youth camp later in the day. I wonder if there was an error in timing of the bomb blasts? I can see making the bomb blast and an assassination of the PM at the camp at the same time, but if the blast occurred early, the gunman probably figured that there was no chance the PM would come to the camp now, and decided to carry out the attack anyway, to do as much killing as possible. This whole attack seems like an attempt to decapitate the entire Norwegian government, much like was was attempted on 9-11, and averted only because the plane headed to DC was brought down in PA by the passengers.
Thanks :D
LIVE UPDATE HERE! http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/jul/22/oslo-explosion-live-coverage?CMP=twt_gu
from the DailyKos
There have also been reports of a shooting by someone wearing a police uniform at a youth camp outside of Oslo. It is not clear yet whether there is any connection between the two events.
10:09 AM PT: The shooting has been confirmed. From a local journalist:
It's a youth camp for the Norwegian Social Democrats.
The shooter was, as described above, clad like a police man and rode the ferry to the island where the camp takes place under pretense of doing a routine check after the bombings in the capital.
The chairman of the Norwegian Social Democrats has confirmed the shooting and said that several people had been hit. Danish news report that the gunman has been apprehended.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/jul/22/oslo-explosion-live-coverage?CMP=twt_gu
on going coverage.
This isn't a knee-jerk kind of operation that was pulled together on short notice. Based on the fact that the attacks on Libya have only been going on for 4 months, which is a very short time to plan an operation on this scale, and the fact that multiple simultaneous attacks is a hallmark of Al Qaeda, I think it's unlikely this is a Libyan attack in retaliation for NATO attacks.
A man in police uniform entered the Labour Party Youth summer camp at Utøya (Ut Island) outside Oslo two hours ago, claimed to be part of heightened security in connection with the bombing in Oslo, and then started shooting with a sub machine gun.
Unconfirmed deaths are five at the moment, many, many injured.
Right now reports are saying that the man may have been shot by police and / or apprehended. One witness report said the man was tall, blonde and fair-skinned.
All the reports I have seen indicate the suspect has been arrested. This whole thing makes me sick, and it reminds me so much of OKC and Mumbai all rolled up into one horrendous bloody, destructive mess. It certainly makes me more pessimistic about the future of the world. We have existential problems like pollution, overcrowding, starvation and climate change facing us, but like survivors in a lifeboat getting into fistfights over some trivial matter, we are seemingly doomed to playing meaningless power games while the world withers and dies around us.
I think it can be Al Qaeda and because of Libya at the same time.
Co-ordination between the two? I'd say unlikely. Libya is a secular nation like Iraq was...inimical to theocratic al Queada.
this from C&L
July 22, 2011 11:00 AM
Are Oslo Bombings, Shooting Retaliation For Charges Against Islamist Cleric?
By Susie Madrak
The Danish Muhammad cartoons have apparently recently been reposted by Norwegian papers and a new book containing the cartoons have also recently been published. Whether this has anything to do with the attacs is still up in the air.
But Norwegians have been talking recently about whether this would entail any problems (the publishing of the cartoons again).
Like the Guardian is reporting, an eyewitness from the island is saying that there are 20-30 bodies floating close to the shore. Shaky helicopter footage of people in the water, although they appear to be swimming or threading water, is shown on Danish tv.
Unconfirmed reports say that the shooter at the island was also seen in Oslo before the bombing. Is this all the work of one man? Scary story still.