Gruesome ‘Hotdog’ video causes outrage in Norway

A VIDEO set to music of Norwegian peacekeepers in Kosovo laughing and shooting dogs drew furious reactions in their homeland yesterday.

The gruesome video, called Hotdog and aired on national TV last night, was edited to look and sound like a music video.

In one sequence, a soldier shot a dog at long range with a rifle, and then another Norwegian peacekeeper appeared to empty his pistol into it at close range as the animal writhed in agony on the ground.

Another episode shows a dog on a leash outside a house being shot.

Norway is a major contributor to international peacekeeping operations, and prefers to see its soldiers as humane and effective.

“We see this as very serious and want to get to the bottom of it,” said Commander Thom Knustad, spokesman for the Norwegian military’s operational command.

Outrage was so intense that the leader of the Pparliament’s defence committee, Marit Nybakk, said she would demand an explanation from Defence Minister Kristin Krohn Devold next week.

The video was circulated among Norwegian Kosovo veterans and others by e-mail, and was posted on the internet by Norway’s largest newspaper, Verdens Gang.

The newspaper said the video was believed to have been recorded in March 2002 by peacekeepers from the elite Telemark Battalion, who had since returned to Norway.

Verdens Gang also said soldiers were believed to have wounded an elderly Kosovo Albanian man in the hand while shooting at dogs and then paid him to remain silent.