Norway Attacks Suspect To Appear In Court

Anders Behring Breivik

A minute of silence is due to be held across Norway at noon today in tribute to the more than 90 people killed in the June 22 bombing and mass shooting incidents.


Afterwards, the suspect who has been detained in connection with the attacks, Anders Behring Breivik, is due to appear in an Oslo court for the first legal hearing in the case.


Police and Breivik's lawyer have said the 32-year-old Norwegian has confessed to carrying out the attacks that killed at least 93 people -- seven in a bombing outside government buildings in Oslo, and 86 in a later shooting rampage that targeted a summer camp organized by the youth wing of Norway's ruling Labor Party.

Breivik, who has told investigators he carried out the violence alone, has been reported to have apparent links to far-right and anti-Islamic groups, and to have planned the attacks for several years.


In a 1,500-page tract apparently written by Breivik and posted on the Internet shortly before the attacks, the writer cites his contempt for Muslims and supporters of multiculturism, and suggests the bloodshed was aimed at triggering an anti-Muslim movement in Europe.

Police say the death toll from the attacks could rise as some people are still missing. More than 90 people were reported wounded in the worst massacre seen by Norway since World War II.

Breivik's lawyer, Geir Lippestad, told reporters that his client said he attacked Norwegian society because he wanted to change it.

Lippestad said Breivik had "said that he believed the actions were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary."

Condemnations of the bloodshed have come from across the world, with the United Nations Security Council issuing a statement describing the attacks as "terrorism," and saying the council condemned the violence "in the strongest terms."

compiled from agency reports