http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/8655175/Oslo-explosion-live-coverage.html
Oslo explosion: live coverage
Live coverage of events after a huge explosion caused devastation to government buildings in central Oslo, Norway.
Link to this video
By Chris Irvine
5:07PM BST 22 Jul 2011
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• Two dead and 15 injured in bomb blast
• Huge explosion rocks government buildings
• Broadcaster TV2 sealed off because of suspicious package
• Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg unhurt in blast - "working from home"
17.07 In a press conference on the spot, police said that they received messages that a large car drove up against the building immediately before the explosion.
Quote We are approaching this successfully. The bomb squad are working their way through the rooms and the fire service follow to put out fires. The searching is still on. We do not have figures on the amount of injured or dead.
We have received messages that a large car has driven up against the building straight before (the explosion). That car is not there now. A lot of investigating remains.
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17.06 Dr John Gearson, a reader in terrorism studies at King's College, London has said that the bomb was likely an improvised explosive device using "commercially available products such as fertilizer".
Quote Generally these devices are put on flatbed pickups, small vans or even trucks. It looks to me that the source of the explosion was outside the buildings and not within them so they haven’t been structurally brought down.
It probably takes a bit more than the lone wolf capability to carry out this sort of attack.
17.02 The Daily Telegraph's Andrew Hough has been speaking Oddbjorn By, a local, who says people suspect al-Qaeda are behind the attacks. The author said he had worked from home in a sheer stroke of good fortune, because of the bad weather.
He described how he felt the massive blast just a few miles away, which caused his house to violently shake.
Quote I felt this giant explosion and the house started to shake really badly.
I was about five km away and it was very powerful.
There is chaos now as all the roads into the city centre have been closed by police.
People are really frightened.”
17.01 More from Will McCants. He is now saying forum members are discussing the arrest of three suspects following a car chase.
forum members now talking about a car chase and the arrest of three suspects. #osloblast #osloless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyWill McCants
will_mccants
17.00 As reported earlier, Jens Stoltenberg, the Norwegian prime minister was unhurt. His spokesman has confirmed that he was "working from home today".
16.57 More on the TV2 offices being evacuated - because a suspicious bag was found.
16.53 Egil Vrekke, Assistant Chief Constable, Oslo Police confirms that there are two casualties. He would not confirm if the bomb was planted in a vehicle. He added that the rescue operation was ongoing and he did not know if anyone else was trapped. They are still searching buildings and evacuating people from the central area at the moment.
16.50 NRK is now reporting that police are searching for a bomb outside TV2 offices in Oslo. There are also reports that Norwegian TV2 offices in Oslo have been ordered to evacuated.
The reason is so far unknown but the location is away from the bomb site.
Norwegian TV2 offices in Oslo just been ordered to evacuate. Reason unknown but location is a bit away from the bomb-site.less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet ReplySvend Karlsen
svendleeds
16.45 Will McCants, who writes for Jihadica, a website that claims it is "documenting the Global Jihad", has claimed an "Amir Ghruzni" on a radical forum says the Oslo blast was a warning to the prime minister of Norway to withdraw troops from Khorasan. Khorasan is an historic region covering parts of Afghanistan among other countries.
Correct translation: "A warning 2 PM of Norway before u in last few moments so you will w/draw ur troops from grave of Khorasan."less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyWill McCants
will_mccants
Video 16.40 The Telegraph has put together a video of the aftermath of the explosion courtesty of Twitter users and YouTube. The scenes show lines of ambulances, broken glass, and utter bewilderment
16.36 Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister who is a prolific Tweeter, has expressed his solidarity with Norway.
He also said he was in quick contact with his Norwegian counterpart.
Terrorism has struck. Police confirms bomb in Oslo. We are all Norwegians.less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPad Favorite Retweet ReplyCarl Bildt
carlbildt
16.32 Mike Emery, a British expat living in Norway who is director of an international NGO, has Tweeted that NRK is report a car has been surrounded at the airport.
He has also Tweeted unconfirmed reports that a black mercedes was seen leaving prior to the explosion.
NRK reporting that car surrounded at the airport #osloexplosionless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyMike Emery
mikeyemery
16.30 An Oslo University press officer tells Reuters:
Quote So far I can confirm that we have received seven people at Oslo University Hospital. I don't know how seriously wounded they are.
16.26 Images of a badly damaged car have dropped. Although it has not been confirmed this was the car that contained the bomb in question, the wreckage would suggest it was at the centre of the explosion or very nearby.
Images from BBC of a Blast near the Prime Ministers office
16.25 Hans Kristian Amundsen, a Norwegian government minister confirms to the BBC that the prime minister safe.
He says it is impossible enough to speculate what was the target. "We have to focus on the rescue operation", he says. He has said there are still people trapped in buildings but did not give further details. He said "many hundreds" of people could have been in the buildings.
16.24 A witness called Sylvio, who lives close to the centre of the explosions told the BBC he arrived on the scene less than three minutes after the intial blast.
Quote I saw people being brought out of buldings unconscious and people lying unconsious on the floor on the. They could have been dead or alive I just don't know.
16.22 The Quilliam Foundation, the counter-extremism think tank based in London, Tweets that Norwegian newspapers reprinted cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed only last year. In fact, they linked to our own article from January 2010.
Major Norwegian newspapers reprinted the Danish Mohammed cartoons only last year. #Oslo #Norway #Oslobombing
http://t.co/HP8hfUEless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyQuilliam
QuilliamF
16.19 Bevdin Azimov, told local media that the city was gripped by "panic" as authorities feared more explosions.
Quote When I came to the place I saw a dead woman, and several were injured. I had taken the subway and came right up the street.
I did not know what to do, people ran from the place. Many were afraid a bomb would explode again.
The police came very quicklyhey also feared another explosion.
I got very scared.
16.16 Marcus Oscarsson writes:
Norwegian police fears more bombs will go off. A first police press conference will be held 5.30 PM Norwegian time (4.30 UK Time) at the Police Main Office in Oslo. At this point the police has only confirmed that “several are dead and several injured”.
“You can not walk here there are two more bombs but we do not know where”, police told reporters at the scene.
16.13 Photos uploaded on Twitter are now showing at least two bodies. Again, be warned, the photos are graphic.
Photos from Oslo appear to show at least 2 bodies (GRAPHIC):
http://tinyurl.com/3hmsz7q and
http://tinyurl.com/3pwh6gm (thanks @F4F1)less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet ReplyMichael van Poppel
mpoppel
16.11 Will Heaven, Assistant Comment Editor and Deputy Editor of Telegraph Blogs, has asked the question everyone is thinking: is al-Qaeda behind this?
A year ago, three men were arrested in Oslo on suspicion of preparing terrorist attacks. At the time, Norway’s security service chief Janne Kristiansen said: “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.” As the BBC’s Security Correspondent Frank Gardner notes, “[al-Qaeda's] AlZawahiri threatened Norway in 2007.”
16.10 Norwegian police have confirmed for the first time that the explosion was a bomb.
16.08 Olaf Furniss, a reporter in Oslo, has told the BBC:
Quote There was a huge blast. All the windows have been blown out from one of the main government buildings, it's a sort of big skyscraper.
And that's where the prime minister's office is, one of the main newspapers is based there, and a lot of other government buildings.
The whole area has been damaged, there's windows blown out in about a 1km radius, a lot of shock. And I can hear a lot of ambulance and police activity as well.
16.05 US government sources on the scene have told ABC News in the US that the explosion was the result of a massive vehicle bomb.
16.02 Marcus Oscarsson is now reporting that Norwegian State Television says two people are dead and a number are injured.
A disaster alarm has been sent to all doctors and nurses at Oslo’s main hospital. Many people are injured and the Norwegian polcie has now confirmed
The main bomb was place between the PM’s Office and the Ministry of Oil and Energy.
All the main streets to oslo have been closed.
16.00 Aftenposten.no has reportedly been told by police that there are still two bombs but they do not know where they are.
Video 15.59 A video has been posted on Twitter of the aftermath of the explosion. You can watch it here.
15.51 Reports from NRK suggest that the explosion was caused by a car bomb parked outside the Norwegian Ministry of Justice. Locals have dismissed earlier suggestions that it was a gas explosion. They have said there is no gas network in central Oslo.
15.49 The Demotix news website has some particularly graphic photographs. They are here if you want to look, but be warned, they are a bit graphic.
Here are some more photographs coming through:
15.47 The BBC has picked up reports from Norwegian TV station that there has been at least one fatality after the explosion.
15.45 Military police are apparently aiding the wounded according to VG
#oslo Military police aiding wounded according to
http://t.co/4GjKKlC - live stream from the scene
http://t.co/rgVAj42 - in norwegianless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyBirgitta Jónsdóttir
birgittaj
15.43 Ruarí Ødegaard, a 34-year-old expatriate Brit living in Oslo, whose wife is Norwegian, has told The Telegraph:
Quote I'm still in my work office and people here seem pretty freaked out and are ringing around friends and relatives like mad.
Also I can heart quite a few police sirens even where I am.
The local media seem very confused.
One minute NRK (national media like BBC) reported two explosions and then a moment later they retracted. So far no reports of deaths just injuries by again no figures as to how many.
15.36 The Daily Telegraph's Martin Evans notes:
It is holiday time in Norway so many people would have been away on holiday. Locals are saying the streets are much quieter than there would have been at other times of the year.
15.30 Some eyewitness reports coming through now. Ole Tommy Pedersen, who was standing at a bus stop about 100 metres from the government headquarters, said he saw the blast shatter almost all windows of the 20-floor highrise. He said he saw a cloud of smoke billowing from the bottom floors. tells AP:
Quote I saw three or four injured people being carried out of the building a few minutes later.
15.27 Alex Leo, New Product Manager at Reuters, has tweeted that Jarle Brenna, a VG Nett reporter was in the Oslo courthouse when the explosion happened. Click on the link for more but it's in Norwegian, so you'll need a translate button
VG Nett reporter Jarle Brenna was in Oslo courthouse when explosion happened. Reports mass confusion,ppl covered in blood
http://j.mp/qJt1n5less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet ReplyAlex Leo
AlexMLeo
15.24 Marcus Oscarsson, a journalist who covers Scandanavia, has suggested that the attacks may have had something to do with the drawings of the prophet Mohammed. No confirmation as of yet.
15.15 A bit more: apparently the offices of biggest Norwegian tabloid newspaper, VG, are also in the area - we think that's the building in the photo below. A journalist with the Norwegian public radio station NRK said:
Quote I see that some windows of the VG building and the government headquarters have been broken. Some people covered with blood are lying in the street. There is glass everywhere. It is total chaos. The windows of the all the surrounding buildings have been blown out.
The BBC is now reporting "at least eight" injuries.
15.11 One building, believed to be oil ministry, is on fire. The Prime Minister's office is also in the area, but the PM himself, Jens Stoltenberg, is apparently safe.
15.08 Reuters reports 'several' injuries, while hundreds of windows have been shattered. The BBC quoted reports that the "twisted wreckage" of a car was seen near the source of the blast, but that is unconfirmed.
15.00 Good afternoon. A huge explosion has rocked government buildings in downtown Oslo. We'll be reporting the latest events as they happen.
