Norway's prime minister has led a memorial service in Oslo for the 93 people so far confirmed killed on Friday by a Norwegian gunman and bomber who had expressed anti-government and anti-Muslim rants on the internet.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg addressed hundreds of mourners gathered at Oslo Cathedral Sunday, telling them that Norway has suffered a “national tragedy” in which the victims were known to many people, including himself. Norwegian King Harald and Queen Sonja also attended the service.
Outside, tearful Norwegians laid flowers and candles in tribute to those killed in a mass shooting on the southern island of Utoeya and an earlier car bombing in Oslo's government district. Norway's NRK television said a person wounded in the shooting died Sunday, raising the death toll on Utoeya to 86. The car bomb killed seven people.
Police say 32-year old Anders Behring Breivik surrendered as soon as they reached the island and later confessed to both attacks, but his lawyer says the suspect denies committing any crime.
Breivik is suspected of setting off the fertilizer bomb that heavily damaged the prime minister's office building, before traveling to Utoeya and firing at participants in a youth camp organized by the ruling Labor Party.
Police say Breivik claims to have acted alone, despite some witnesses on the island saying there was a second gunman. Norwegian security forces raided a small house in Oslo on Sunday in a search for clues, but no explosives were found and no one was detained.
Defense lawyer Geir Lippestad says Breivik believes his actions were “atrocious” but necessary to bring about a “revolution” in Norwegian society. Lippestad says the suspect wants to explain his motives in court, where he is due to appear on Monday to face terrorism charges.
Breivik published a 1,500-page manifesto on the Internet just before the first attack. In it, he rants against what he calls the Islamisation of Europe through Muslim immigration. He also vows to take revenge against European liberal elites whom he accuses of betraying their Christian heritage by promoting multiculturalism.
