Norway bow-and-arrow assault show to be ‘work of terror'

At least five people died on Wednesday in one of the deadliest attacks in a decade in Norway. The police now believe a terror attack. It was the deadliest attack since far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in 2011.

??A bizarre and shocking attack in a Scandinavian country where violent crime is rare. The bow- and arrow rampage by a man who killed five people in a small town near Norway’s Capital appeared to be a terrorist act.

Witness said their quiet neighborhood of wooden houses and birch trees was turned into a scene of terrifying crises and turmoil.?

They said he used the bow and arrow and possibly another weapon to randomly target people at a supermarket and other locations in Kongsberg a town of about 26,000 where he lived.

Police identified the attacker as Espen Andersen Braathen, a 37-year- old Danish citizen, had converted to Islam and there were fears he had been radicalized. However, a motive has not yet been determined. The perpetrator is believed to have acted alone, police said??

Residents have been deeply shaken by the violence. Flags were flown at half-mast on Thursday while flowers and other memorials were placed in Kongsberg’s main square. The victims were all aged between 50 and 70 regional police Chief Ole Bredrup told Thursday morning news briefing.

The attack comes on the eve of a new government after last month’s parliamentary elections unseated the long-ruling Conservative Party. Labor leader Jonas Gahr Store is due to assume the role of Prime Minister on Thursday. The store describes the attack as a “cruel and brutal act”.

?Norway’s King Harald expressed his sympathizes Thursday in a short message to the mayor of Kongsberg saying that “the rest of the nation stands with you”??

Kongsberg is located 85 Kilometers about 35 miles west of Oslo. The suspect is being held on preliminary charges and will face formal charges on Friday.?

NATO’s general secretary Jens Stoltenberg, who is from Oslo, said it was “shocking news”

The attack was the deadliest in the country since far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in 2011.

Since then, Norway has seen one other far-right attack, carried out by a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi who opened fire into a mosque.

?Norway Terror Attack 2011.

?The people killed on Utoya island were attending a labor party youth camp. Most of the 700 campers ranged in the age from 16 to 22 some as young as 13 Norway does not have the death penalty.

?Andres Breivik parks a white van outside the government quarter in Oslo loaded with a 950 Kilogram bomb then leaves in a separate vehicle heading for Utoya Island. The bomb explodes killing six women and two men.?

Breivik arrives in Utoya on a boat from the mainland dressed as a policeman and carrying an arsenal of weapons in a suitcase. The?shooting?star. Breivik kills a guard and a camp organizer before stalking and murdering mostly teenagers and young adults around the Island. He kills 69 people.

Breivik gives himself up armed police and is arrested?The trial begins with Breivik entering the court giving a clenched fist salute. Breivik is sentenced to a maximum of 21 years in prison. He will serve his sentence in a high-security three-room cell but with very little contact with other inmates.

An appeals court overrules the previous decision. The European Court of Human Rights rejects Breivik's appeal.

?French police officers stand around the house of Jens Breivik the father of Anders Breivik Cournanel in southern France. Andres Breivik is a suspect of a bombing in Oslo and a shooting on a nearby island which occurred on Friday, July 22, 2011

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