Norway's nightmare: Gunman fired for 1.5 hours on island - At least 85 killed

OSLO, Norway (AP):A gunman who opened fire on an island teeming with young people kept shooting for one and a half hours before surrendering to a SWAT team, which arrived 40 minutes after they were called, police said yesterday.

Survivors of the shooting spree have described hiding and fleeing into the water to escape the gunman, but a police briefing yesterday detailed for the first time how long the terror lasted - and how long victims waited for help.

When the SWAT team arrived, the gunman, who was carrying a pistol and an automatic weapon, surrendered, said police chief, Sveinung Sponheim.

"There were problems with transport to Utoya," where the youth wing of Norway's left-leaning Labour Party was holding a retreat, Sponheim said. "It was difficult to get a hold of boats."

At least 85 people were killed on the island, but police said four or five people remain missing.

Divers have been searching the surrounding waters, and Sponheim said the missing may have drowned. Police earlier said there was an unexploded device on the island, but it later turned out to be fake.

Car bomb exploded

The attack followed a car bomb outside a government building in Oslo, where another seven people were killed. Police are still digging through rubble there, and Sponheim said there are still body parts in the building.

Police have not identified the suspect, but Norwegian national broadcaster NRK says he is Anders Behring Breivik. They have said only that they have charged a 32-year-old under Norway's terror law. He will be arraigned tomorrow when a court decides whether police can continue to hold him as the investigation continues.

Authorities have not given a motive for the attacks, but both were in areas connected to the Labour Party, which leads a coalition government.

Even police confessed to not knowing much about the suspect, but details trickled out about him all day: He had ties to a right-leaning political party, he posted on Christian fundamentalist websites, and he rented a farm where he amassed six tons of fertiliser.

Police said the suspect is talking to them and has admitted to firing weapons on the island. It was not clear if he had confessed to anything else he is accused of. Police said he retained a lawyer, but the attorney did not want to be identified.

"He has had a dialogue with the police the whole time, but he's a very demanding suspect," Sponheim said.

Earlier in the day, a farm supply store said it had alerted police that he bought six tons of fertiliser, which is highly explosive and can be used in home-made bombs.

The deadly twin attacks in Norway were greeted with an outpouring of sympathy and disgust across Europe and beyond yesterday, and generated calls to counter the far-right intolerance that may have motivated the assailant.

Horrific shooting spree

While the background isn't yet entirely clear, "it is said that hatred was a motive," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin. "Hatred of others, hatred of those who look different, of the supposedly foreign - this hatred is our common enemy."

"All of us who believe in freedom, respect and peaceful coexistence, we all must confront this hatred," she said.

Neighbouring Sweden's prime minister said Norwegian society "now faces a tough challenge. But the questions will also reach us here in Sweden."

"Remember that what an extremist does can very often be used by other extremists. Our task is to show another way," Fredrik Reinfeldt said in Stockholm.

"We all have to stand up together and show what is important: to respect each other, to take care of each other; to stand up for democracy and openness; and show respect for all people not the least, young people who have chosen to engage themselves politically."

Germany's top Jewish leader also highlighted the need to fight extremism.

"As a group that itself is always threatened by hatred, fanaticism and terrorism, we can identify particularly with the terrible loss of Norwegian society," Dieter Graumann said, German news agency dapd reported.

Austria's opposition Freedom Party, which has drawn criticism in the past for anti-immigration and anti-Islamic rhetoric, condemned the attacks sharply. "It is absolutely abhorrent how young people were systematically killed," general secretary Harald Vilimsky said, according to the Austria Press Agency.

Pope Benedict XVI said in a condolence message to Norway's King Harald V that he was "profoundly saddened" by the great loss of life caused by the "senseless violence" in the bombing and the following massacre.

The pope invoked God's peace on the dead and offered "fervent" prayers for the victims and their families.

European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek expressed shock at the targeting of youths at a political party camp.

"This is an unimaginable tragedy for the families who lost their loved ones, young people at the outset of their adult life, fascinated with public service," he said. "It's shocking how one can inflict so much evil."

Pakistan, which has been a frequent target of attacks by Islamic extremists, said its president and prime minister "strongly condemned" the attacks.

"Pakistan itself has suffered enormously from terrorist attacks and fully empathises with the government and the people of Norway," the foreign ministry said in a statement.