A bomb devastated the main government building in Norway’s capital Oslo on Friday, killing seven people, and a gunman wounded five people hours later in a shooting at a youth camp, state media reported.
Though the bomb attack was on the very heart of power in the small Nordic state, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was safe. There was no claim of responsibility.
“This is very serious,” Mr Stoltenberg told Norwegian TV2 television in a phone call. He added it was too early to say if the blast was a terrorist attack.
He said the police had advised him not to say where he was speaking from.
“Even though we have prepared for this type of situation, it is fairly dramatic when it happens,” he added.
As he spoke, reports came through of a shooting incident at Utoeya, an island south of Oslo where Mr Stoltenberg’s Labour Party was holding a gathering of its youth section.
—Reuters