Huge explosion in Oslo

[Nordic]

They've already got some patsies suspects terrorists.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10554523

Three people have been arrested in connection with a plot to bomb targets in Norway, police in Oslo have said.

Two of the plotters were arrested in Norway and one in Germany, said the head of the Norwegian security police, Janne Kristiansen.

The men - a Uighur from China, an Iraqi and an Uzbek - are said to have ties to al-Qaeda and to be linked to bomb plots in the US and UK, Ms Kristiansen said.

The three, all Norwegian residents, had been under surveillance for a year.

US prosecutors say the Norwegian case is linked to foiled bomb plots in New York and the English city of Manchester.

"We believe this group has had links to people abroad who can be linked to al-Qaeda, and to people who are involved in investigations in other countries, among others the United States and Britain," Ms Kristiansen said.

h/t Washingtonsblog

[barracuda]

Dude, that article is a year old.

[MacCruiskeen]

A poster called 'margo' at medialenswrites:

Would Norway draw the ire of jihadists at this juncture, given that Norway announced in January (a) it will be among the first countries to recognise Palestine in September this year, even if peace talks fail and (b) it is pulling out of the NATO-led Libyan operation in August?

Norway will decidedly NOT be among the first countries to recognize the State of Palestine. Such a statement ignores the one-hundred and twenty countries which have recognized Palestine for quite some time now. However, Norway was among the first nations to fully recognize Israel as a state, and to promote their inclusion in the United Nations, despite a long history of entrenched anti-semitism there.

You're splitting hairs. From the article 'margo' linked to (which you left out):

When asked if Norway would recognise a Palestinian state after that point, Stoere said, “Norway will be among the first states [in Europe] who will recognise a Palestinian state when there is an act as an international team” to that end. Until then, he went on to say, Norway will continue to back negotiations between the two warring nations while supporting Fayyad’s plan.

Read more: http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2011/01 ... z1SrzYySx2

The clarification was not added by me, just the colour red for emphasis.

a long history of entrenched anti-semitism there.

...as there is in Britain, Germany, Poland and almost any European country you care to mention. But I don't see what any of that has to do with the plausibilty of "Islamist terrorism" as a knee-jerk explanation for the two attacks in Norway today. Nor do I see anything remotely antisemitic per se in the suggestion that Islamist terrorists are not the only people who might have serious reasons to be murderously pissed off at the Norwegian government right now.

[Harvey]

"Al Qaeda" is really the perfect, all-purpose, ready-made culprit. It's fascinating to watch the pundits falling into lockstep so quickly, rushing towards the desired foregone conclusions long before there is any real evidence to incriminate any organisation at all. Which is precisely what they scoff at "conspiracy theorists" for allegedly doing.

Yup. As of ten minutes ago people are still quoting "Will McCants," the C.N.A.guy, so whatever the truth, a full day of conflating Islamic extremists with Oslo will leave many punters with the clear impression of who was responsible. Job done.

[barracuda]

But I don't see what any of that has to do with the plausibilty of "Islamist terrorism" as a knee-jerk explanation for the two attacks in Norway today. Nor do I see anything remotely antisemitic per se in the suggestion that Islamist terrorists are not the only people who might have serious reasons to be murderously pissed off at the Norwegian government right now.

I wouldn't have even brought it up were it not for the obvious knee-jerk reaction here on the board (but not by you, Mac) to the effect that the culprit must obviously be Israel in the face of virtually no evidence.

Now:

Oslo police said 9 or 10 people were killed at the camp on Utoya island, where the youth wing of the Labor Party was holding a summer camp for hundreds of youths. Acting Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim says a man was arrested in the shooting, and the suspect had been observed in Oslo before the explosion there.

It seems this attack may be domestic in origin.

[StarmanSkye]

Stephen Morgan wrote:

'"Al Qaeda" is really the perfect, all-purpose, ready-made culprit. It's fascinating to watch the pundits falling into lockstep so quickly, rushing towards the desired foregone conclusions long before there is any real evidence to incriminate any organisation at all. Which is precisely what they scoff at "conspiracy theorists" for allegedly doing.'

Good observation.

Means, motive and opportunity.

HOW precisely are the Al CIA-duh culprits supposed to think these so-called teror attacks will help their cause? Invariably what happens is the western developed-nations bloc solidify and invest even more millions in their burgeoning Securitat Industries, mobilize public towards yet another military/political/economic campaign against identified 'terrorist threats' accompanied by homelandia security crackdowns and 'investigations' or mass-arrests & deportations against 'guilty' suspects, kidnapping renditions and torture and interrogations et al, the result usually to embolden an outraged Arab solidarity movement around human-and-civil rights issues. So THIS is their supposed 'plan'?

Almost seems like a symbiotic relationship, a partnership where each 'side' gets a benefit -- at the expense of liberty and civil society.

I can imagine how readily the subject Euro audience will predictably line-up to embrace the mass-media's notion of responsibility as designated foe Al Qaeda.

I think "they'' will continue to milk this puppy for all they can -- What an invaluable distraction from the economic fraud and EU intrigue and multiple-front fiasco-wars of the warmonger profiteers led by NATO and US as per disaster capitalism.

[MacCruiskeen]

A poster called 'hidari' at medialens writes:

"We will know it's not Islamists if the media start to lose interest."

...just as they lost interest in the Anthrax plot, for instance.

[gnosticheresy_2]

@GH:

Thanks for the tip on the timeline and the OP. It's also been opined that none of the mainstream media will present the fact of Norway supporting Palestinian statehood in the context of this attack. I should use less MSM reporter-like language in my posts but all points in my timeline were sourced by the posters and I don't see any form of opinionising there.

It's got nowt to do with your MSM-like language, more that instead of "man walks into a bar (source)" you're going "just like on 9/11, man walks into a bar (source)" or "this event is just two months after Adam Barperson gave a speech about men walking into wooden beams". They may be related, but keeping the what separate from your speculation as to the why makes things clearer (just in terms of writing it down, whether you've got a coherent or valid argument is an entire other kettle of ball games).

/nitpick

[eyeno]

I have no idea at this point. Have not had time to digest this info.

Unless you are willing to believe this bullshit.

Unknown group called 'Helpers of the Global Jihad' said to have posted message saying this is reaction to publication of Muhammed cartoons

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/850/772/MASSACRE_AT_KIDS_CAMP:_More_than_30_dead_as_terrorist_opens_fire_at_Norwegian_summer_camp_and_car_bomb_devastates_Oslo.html


MASSACRE AT KIDS' CAMP: More than 30 dead as terrorist opens fire at Norwegian summer camp and car bomb devastates Oslo

Friday, July 22, 2011 3:56

1.30pm: Massive car bomb explosion kills at least seven in Oslo
3.30pm: Between 25 and 30 feared dead as man disguised as police officer opens fire on island youth meeting Norwegian prime minister was due to attend
Police confirm eight or nine dead on island after preliminary search
Eyewitnesses say bodies floating in the sea around the island
Man arrested on the island was 6ft tall, had blonde hair and spoke Norwegian - reports he was shot and wounded before being detained
Police fear explosives may have been laid at camp
Unknown group called 'Helpers of the Global Jihad' said to have posted message saying this is reaction to publication of Muhammed cartoons
Islands residents told not to reveal their location on Twitter or Facebook
British Foreign Minister William Hague condemns 'horrific' attack
Oslo Mayor: 'Wish I were on island to be shot instead of children'
Police believe the two attacks may be linked and can not say whether there was more than one shooter on island


Teenagers on the Norwegian holiday island of Utoya had to 'swim for their lives' and hide in trees when a gunman fired indiscriminately at them.
Around 700 had gathered on the island for a meeting of the youth wing of the ruling Labour party.
Witnesses said the man in police uniform who opened fire beckoned several young people over before shooting at them. He told them to 'come here'.




Escape: This footage apparently shows three people swimming away from the island of Utoya which was targeted by a gunman
Other witnesses said they heard him saying: 'This is just the beginning.'
It came as Norway succumbed to a double attack in what is being described as the worst atrocity it has faced since the Second World War.
Terrorists are believed to be responsible for a massive car blast at a government office block in the capital Oslo which took place earlier on in the day.




Camp: A number of children were gunned down in the attack on Utoya island




Targeted: Hundreds of children were at a summer camp, which is held every year (as pictured here) on the island of Utoya




Trick: A man dressed as a policeman opened fire on children at a summer camp (pictured) on the island of Utoya
One teenager who was caught up in the island attack said: 'Suddenly, we heard lots of shooting. People had to run and hide. We have been told to get off the island.'
A party official said: 'There has been a shootout. Many people are shot. Based on what I have seen, at least four people are shot and killed. Now it’s complete panic and we swim off to get to safety.'
Bjorn Jarle Røberg-Larsen, of the Labour party, spoke to young people on Utoya by phone.
'They say that at least one person wearing a police-like uniform was firing shots with a handgun,' he said.
He said the people he spoke to were hiding and dared not speak on the phone any more for fear of being discovered.
'Young people have to swim in panic, and it is far to the mainland from Utoya,' he said. 'Others are hiding. Those I spoke with were terrified.'



An aerial view of Utoya Island where the second attack took place today



Utoya island is 50 miles from the capital Oslo where the summer camp was taking place
A Twitter user going by the name zhalli1 posted a message on the website saying: 'I'm safe. We've hidden in a tree. One of us is shot twice in the foot.'
Police stormtroopers landed on the island by helicopter as the shooting continued and sealed off the area but ambulances were unable to reach the scene immediately.
Fredrik Walløe, a London-based Norwegian journalist, tweeted: 'A Sea King helicopter carrying medics has reached the island, but can't land because of continued gunfire.'
Locals were urged to help those fleeing the island.


Alyssa Nilsen, a music journalist and photographer in Oslo, wrote on Twitter: 'People are escaping the island by jumping in the water and swimming away. Anyone near Utoya with a boat, please help!'
One witness described the scene from the mainland. He wrote on Twitter: 'There is a little war going on out there.'
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who had been due to visit the island, told a Norwegian TV channel that the situation was critical.
He said: 'We now have reports of a serious situation there – a critical situation on Utoya.'
Emilie Bersaas, 19, spoke from Utoya last night, from where she could still hear police and helicopters overheard.
She said: 'I'm at a building with the army. I ran here when I heard the shooting. I heard a lot of people running and screaming. I ran to the nearest building and hid under the desk.'
She said there was 'a lot of shooting' and she heard 'screaming from the next room'.
'The shooting came from all different directions,' she added. 'Somebody told me to go under the desk. And put mattresses and pillows on top so I felt kind of safe. It was terrifying.'
She said the shooting was very close to the building and hit it at one point.
'I stayed under the bed for two hours. Then the police smashed the window and came in.'
'It seems so unreal, in Norway this doesn't happen here. It's something that we hear about happening in the U.S.
'It's weird and it's tough and it reminds us of problems that we should have taken more seriously than we have.'



Victim: Woman covered in blood is led away from the scene following the explosion this afternoon




Utter devastation in the centre of the Norwegian capital Oslo as victims are treated in the streets strewn with debris



A seriously injured female victim is carried away from the scene by police officers
She added: 'I'm worried about my friends on the island. I've talked to some of them. Some of them are hiding in the same building as me but some of them I don’t know where they are.'
The island attack came soon after a massive car blast at a government office block in the capital Oslo, where reports say a man also dressed in police uniform was seen loitering beforehand.
It has not been confirmed if the two incidents were coordinated or the island gunman was acting alone - but Oslo police believe the two incidents may indeed be linked.




Smoke billows from a 17-storey government building after a powerful explosion rocked central Oslo


man lies injured in the road amid wreckage from the blast as emergency service personnel rush to help him



The wreckage of a car lies outside government buildings in the centre of Oslo. Police have confirmed the blast was caused by a bomb

[barracuda]

eyeno, I've merged yours into the existing thread.

[eyeno]

eyeno, I've merged yours into the existing thread.

thanx, sorry for the double threading, didn't notice we already had one

[elfismiles]

While I don't believe the MSM conspiracy theory of 911, more and more I do believe that OBL's goal was to get the USA to become a police state and spend itself into oblivion... see my friend Scott Horton's speech beginning at about the 7 minute 14 second mark until around the 13-15 minute mark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPBrGeAuxOY#t=07m14s

HOW precisely are the Al CIA-duh culprits supposed to think these so-called teror attacks will help their cause? Invariably what happens is the western developed-nations bloc solidify and invest even more millions in their burgeoning Securitat Industries, mobilize public towards yet another military/political/economic campaign against identified 'terrorist threats' accompanied by homelandia security crackdowns and 'investigations' or mass-arrests & deportations against 'guilty' suspects, kidnapping renditions and torture and interrogations et al, the result usually to embolden an outraged Arab solidarity movement around human-and-civil rights issues. So THIS is their supposed 'plan'?

Almost seems like a symbiotic relationship, a partnership where each 'side' gets a benefit -- at the expense of liberty and civil society.

.

[MacCruiskeen]

Glenn Greenwald has a good post on this:

...

Again, nobody knows who perpetrated these attacks or why (though the self-described jihadi group claiming responsibility said, as the NYT put it, that it "was a response to Norwegian forces’ presence in Afghanistan and to unspecified insults to the Prophet Muhammad"). But whether these attacks are related to those wars or not, I simply do not understand this bafflement being expressed that Norway -- of all countries -- would be targeted with violence.

Regardless of the justifications of these wars -- and Norway is in both countries as part of a U.N. action -- it is simply a fact that Norway has sent its military to two foreign countries where it is attacking people, dropping bombs, and killing civilians. Historically, one reason not to invade and attack other countries is because doing so often prompts one's own country to be attacked. Western nations typically only attack countries that are incapable of responding in kind, but those nations and their sympathizers are capable of perpetrating asymmetrical attacks of the sort that Oslo just suffered.

This has nothing to do with justification, as these kinds of civilian-targeting attacks are, as I said, inherently unjustifiable (though if NATO declares the leader of Libya a "legitimate military target" and air bombs his residence, what's the argument as to why the office of the Prime Minister whose country is at war with Libya is not a legitimate target?). The point is that it's completely unsurprising that a nation at war -- whether Norway or the U.S. -- is going to be targeted with violent attacks. That's what "being at war" means, and it's usually what it provokes. And the way this fact is suppressed ("a coordinated assault on the ordinarily peaceful Scandinavian nation" = the post-9/11 why do they hate us?) highlights how we view violence as something only those Others commit, but not we.

...
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn ... index.html

[AhabsOtherLeg]

Sorry for posting these without warning/spoiler tags, I don't know how that's done.

Could be the killer at Utoya. Doesn't look like a policeman responding to the shootings. At least one victim in the water is still alive and concious:







Images were posted earlier on TV2.no but removed, possibly due to showing the killer.

PURE SPECULATION: I had a wierd flash earlier that in a lone-gunman scenario this could turn out to be the work of the psychotic Russian neo-Nazi Viacheslav Datsik, who has a history with Norway, including a history of entering the country illegally while armed. He was deported back to Russia from there in March this year, but has escaped and crossed the border by himself before. He has many contacts amongst the extreme far-right in both countries, and is tall, blonde, and Nordic-looking. Like I say, this is pure speculation and probably not a good thing to be saying here at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viacheslav_Datsik

[barracuda]

2238: Deputy Oslo police chief Sveining Sponheim tells reporters the man under arrest is 32 and "ethnic Norwegian".

2231: Police say undetonated explosives have been found on Utoeya island.