A Norwegian "madman" carried out the biggest spree killing in modern history yesterday when he posed as a police officer and massacred 80 people at an island youth camp.
The mass slaughter came hours after Anders Behring Breivik detonated a bomb that ripped through government buildings in the capital of Oslo - killing at least 7 people, authorities said.
In the attack on Utoya Island, about 20 miles from Oslo, Breivik, 32, unleashed a seemingly endless hail of bullets across the forested island, sending the mostly teenage campers running for their lives.
Some scampered into the woods. Others tried to swim to safety.
"I saw many dead people," said Elise, a camper whose father did not want to disclose her last name. "He first shot people on the island. Afterward he started shooting people in the water."
Elise said she took cover behind the same rock that the killer was standing on. "I could hear his breathing from the top of the rock," she said.
A witness told local reporters that the phony policeman suddenly opened fire after telling people he was there to protect them.
"He said it was a routine check in connection with the terror attack in Oslo," the witness told VG Nett, the Web site of a national newspaper.
Jorgen Benone huddled behind stones as the gunman executed people nearby.
"I saw people being shot. I tried to sit as quietly as possible," said Benone. "I saw him once, just 20, 30 metres away from me. I thought, 'I'm terrified for my life,' I thought of all the people I love."
A victim is treated outside government buildings after a bomb attack in downtown Oslo.
Cops arrested Breivik and later found undetonated explosives on the 550-yard-long island.
In all, Breivik killed at least 87 people in what was worst rampage killing in modern history.
Breivik appeared to have acted alone in both attacks - leading investigators to downplay speculation that the violence was the work of international terrorists.
"This seems like a madman's work," a police official said.
Breivik was described as a homegrown, right-wing terrorist.
The attack "is probably more Norway's Oklahoma City than it is Norway's World Trade Center," the police official said.
The incidents sparked widespread panic in the long-peaceful Scandinavian country - and sent shudders across the world.
A destroyed car is under suspicion as the source of the blast. (Fartein Rudjord/AP)
The spasm of violence first struck Oslo about 3:30 p.m. when a powerful bomb ripped open multiple buildings in the central government district, shattering windows and sending huge plumes of smoke into the air. Shards of glass and documents lay strewn around the streets, and the wreckage of a mangled, blackened car was pictured among the debris.
0 comments:
Post a Comment