Two people were killed and at least 21 people injured in shootings near bars in central Oslo overnight from Friday to Saturday.
Two people were killed and at least 21 people injured, ten seriously, in shootings near bars in central Oslo on the night of Friday to Saturday, announced the police who arrested a suspect and announced to investigate “a terrorist attack”. The shooting occurred around 1:00 a.m. local time (2300 GMT Friday) outside a pub, Per på hjørnet, where the two deaths are to be deplored, then in front of an adjoining gay club, the London Pub, in the middle of center of the Norwegian capital, so crowded on this hot summer night.
“The police are investigating the facts as a terrorist act,” she said in a statement, without providing further details at this stage. The LGBT Pride march scheduled for Saturday afternoon in Oslo has been cancelled. The police initially said they were investigating to see if there was “a connection” between the attack and the events organized in connection with the Pride march.
“As far as we can be sure at this stage, there was only one person” behind the shooting and “he is under our control,” said a police official, Tore Barstad, during a point of view. hurry. However, the police force has been reinforced in the capital to deal with possible other incidents.
“A Scene of War”
The alleged perpetrator of the shooting is a Norwegian of Iranian origin. The suspect, whose identity has not been disclosed, was known to the internal intelligence services, also in charge of anti-terrorism, Oslo police official Christian Hatlo told a press conference. . He also had to deal with the police for minor acts such as carrying a knife or a conviction for possession of narcotics.
On a video filmed by a mobile phone and broadcast by the newspaper Verdens Gang (VG), we see three police officers controlling a man on the ground. Civilians assisted in the capture of the suspect as well as with first aid, according to the police who hailed “a heroic contribution”. Two weapons were seized. A witness interviewed by VG mentioned the use of an automatic weapon – information that the police did not confirm – and spoke of “a scene of war”. “There were plenty of injured people on the ground who had head injuries,” he said.
According to an NRK journalist present at the time of the shooting, the shooter arrived with a bag from which he pulled out a weapon with which he fired. In the early hours of the morning, a bag was still lying on the ground at the scene of the shooting around which specialists from the technical and scientific police were busy. The area, which is located near the courthouse, has been cordoned off.
“The shooting outside the London Pub in Oslo tonight is a horrific and deeply shocking attack on innocent people,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said. “We don’t yet know the reasons for this terrible act but to the homosexuals who now fear and mourn, I want to say that we are all together with you,” he wrote on Facebook. The shooter “seemed very determined where he was aiming,” a woman who witnessed the scene told VG.
According to the police, eight injured were transported to hospital and six others taken care of by a medical permanence. The Oslo University Hospital meanwhile mentioned 19 injured, eight hospitalized and 11 treated by the medical service. Their condition is not immediately known.
Generally peaceful, Norway was the scene of bloody attacks on July 22, 2011. That day, right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in a bomb attack on the government headquarters in Oslo and a shooting against a gathering of young workers on the island of Utøya.