Fatal attack in Norway: “The act looks like an act of terrorism”

After the attack in Kongsberg, Norway, the police are still investigating a possible terrorist background. The man’s motive is unclear. He is to be brought before the judge on Friday.

After the act of violence with five dead in the Norwegian town of Kongsberg, the police cannot rule out a terrorist background. “The act looks like an act of terrorism, but we do not know the motives of the perpetrator,” said the head of the authority, Hans Sverre Sjøvold.

The alleged perpetrator went in and out of the health service. Sjøvold emphasized that the investigation was still ongoing. He is to be brought before the judge on Friday. In addition, forensic psychiatrists should get an idea of ​​him.

Attack with a bow and arrow

A man had attacked numerous people with multiple weapons, including a bow and arrow, in downtown Kongsberg on Wednesday evening. During his escape from the police, he also gained access to apartments.

Five people were killed, four women and one man. According to the police, the victims are between the ages of 50 and 70. Three people were injured, including a police officer who was shopping in a supermarket. Initially, there was talk of two injured.

Police followed up on evidence of radicalization

The police confirmed that the arrested suspect – a 37-year-old Danish citizen who lives in Norway – had already been in the focus of the authorities because of evidence of radicalization. It is assumed that he has converted to Islam.

At a previous press conference, a police officer said the police had been investigating fears of radicalization in the past year and before. This year, however, there were no more indications of abnormalities in the man.

So far not accused of terrorism

The responsible public prosecutor said that the man had made a comprehensive statement. He also justified his actions, but they do not want to share the details with the public. So far, the man has not been specifically accused of terror.

According to a report by the Norwegian news agency NTB, the man has already been convicted twice. Among other things, he is said to have threatened family members to kill them.

According to Norwegian media, the suspect had a criminal record for burglary and drug possession.

The conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who handed over her office to the Social Democrat Jonas Gahr Støre on schedule after a defeat in September, expressed her condolences to the survivors of the victims that night. “The news we got from Kongsberg tonight is terrible,” she said. “There have been several victims, the situation is dramatic. I understand that many people are afraid. So I want to emphasize that the police are in control of the situation.” Her successor Støre spoke of a “cruel and brutal act”.

King Harald also commented on this, and the court published a written declaration. It says, among other things:

I am appalled by the tragic events in Kongsberg last night. We have compassion for the loved ones and the injured in their grief and despair. Norway is a small country. If the people of Kongsberg are hit this hard now, the rest of the nation will stand by you.

Steinmeier and Maas express their condolences

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas expressed their condolences to the bereaved.

Maas wrote on Twitter: “I am shocked by the brutal attack in Norway. Five people were torn from their lives with bows and arrows. Others are injured. My thoughts are with the victims of this terrorist attack and their families during these hours. I wish them all.” much power.”

Steinmeier wrote, according to a message to the Norwegian King Harald V: “My sincere condolences go to the relatives and friends of the victims. I sincerely hope that the injured will recover quickly and completely. I am sad that Norway is ten years after the terrible terrorist attack in Utøya and Oslo is riddled with violence again. ”

Norway has been the target of attacks on several occasions

The country had been the target of attacks several times in the past. The last time in August two years ago, a 22-year-old Norwegian right-wing extremist shot his Chinese-born stepsister and then attacked a mosque near the capital Oslo. He was sentenced to a maximum sentence of at least 21 years in prison.

As was Anders Breivik years earlier, who carried out the worst attack ever in Norway in 2011. In the explosion of a bomb he had planted in Oslo’s government district and a subsequent rampage in the summer camp of the social democratic youth organization on the nearby island of Utøya, he murdered 77 people.

With information from Carsten Schmiester, ARD-Studio Stockholm, currently Hamburg