Twenty feared dead in Norway camp shooting

More than 20 people were feared dead tonight after a gunman dressed as a policeman opened fire at a youth camp outside Oslo.

The deadly attack on the island of Utoya followed a terror bomb blast in the capital which left two people dead and at least 15 others injured.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told Norwegian broadcaster NRK: “Co-workers have lost their lives today ... it’s frightening. That’s not how we want things in our country.

“But it’s important that we don’t let ourselves be scared. Because the purpose of that kind of violence is to create fear.”

He said there were unconfirmed reports of dead and injured at the Labour Party camp shooting in Utoya but that details were still sketchy.

But an eyewitness told NRK he saw more than 20 bodies after the camp shooting.

Police confirmed that a man was arrested after the youth camp shooting.

Eyewitness Andre Scheie said he saw bodies on the shore of Utoya island where the youth wing of the Labor Party was holding a summer camp for hundreds of youths.

Scheie said: “There are very many dead by the shore ... there are about 20-25 dead.”

He also said he saw bodies in the water.

Party spokesman Per Gunnar Dahl said panicked teenagers had tried to flee the island by swimming as the gunman opened fire.

In Oslo the powerful bomb tore into the heart of Norway, ripping open buildings, including the prime minister’s office.

Mr Stoltenberg was working at home at the time and was unharmed by the bombing, according to senior adviser Oivind Ostang.

The square where the bomb exploded was covered in twisted metal and shattered glass, and carpeted in documents expelled from the surrounding buildings, which house government offices and the headquarters of some of Norway’s leading newspapers.

Most of the windows were shattered in the 20-floor high rise.

Oslo police said the explosion was caused by “one or more” bombs, but declined to speculate on who was behind the attack. They later sealed off the nearby offices of broadcaster TV 2 after discovering a suspicious package.

“So far, police cannot say anything about the scope of the damage, aside from that there’s been one or several explosions,” said a police statement.

US President Barack Obama said the bombing is a reminder that the world has a role in stopping such terror from happening. He also expressed his condolences to Norway’s people.

Oslo is known for the Nobel Peace Prize that’s awarded there and Obama was the recipient in 2009.

Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the blast a “heinous act.”

About 400 Norwegian soldiers are serving as part of the Nato-led international force in Afghanistan. Ten Norwegians have died in the war.

Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, expressed his “utmost shock” over the blast.

Barroso said that an attack of this magnitude was not “something one would expect in Norway, famously associated with peace at home and peacemaking abroad”.

The attacks come as Norway grapples with a home-grown terror plot linked to al-Qaida. Two suspects are in jail awaiting charges.