At least one Islamic terror group quickly claimed the attacks were “revenge” for Norway’s engagement in Afghanistan Photo: AFP
Investigators Are Trying To Establish If The Captured Suspect In The Oslo Terrorist Attacks Operated Alone.
By Duncan Gardham, and Martin Evans
11:57PM BST 22 Jul 2011
Courtesy Of "The Telegraph"
Jens Stoltenberg, the prime minister, appeared to suggest at a press conference that the gunman was part of a larger group.
“I have a message to the person who attacked us and the people who are behind it: You’re not going to destroy us,” he said.
“You’re not destroying our democracy and our work for a better world. We’re a small country but a very proud country. No one can bomb us to be quiet. No one can shoot us to be quiet no one can ever scare us from being Norway.”
Mr Stoltenberg said he did not want “to speculate” on whether a terrorist group was responsible. Intelligence experts refused to rule out the possibility that the attacks were the work of Right-wing extremists rather than an Islamist group.
The bomb in Oslo and the shootings on the island of Utoya appeared to be directed at the ruling Labour Party. Knut Storberget, the justice minister, said the gunman was Norwegian, but added: “I don’t know so much about him.” While the technique of coordinating multiple attacks is favoured by al-Qaeda, security experts said other aspiring terrorist groups could have copied what has proved to be an effective method.
A spokesman for Executive Analysis, a London-based risk consultancy, said last night: “It is likely that [the suspect] was ethnically Norwegian. This could indicate the involvement of a far-Right group rather than an Islamist group, though it is also the case that the Labour Party would be a favourable target for Islamist groups due to its role in authorising Norwegian military deployment in Afghanistan.”
However, al-Qaeda has also been known to recruit local extremists and converts. A report earlier this year by Norway’s intelligence service noted the domestic terrorist threat posed by Norwegian citizens trained in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen or Afghanistan.
Norway’s Police Security Service, the equivalent of Britain’s MI5, has established links between extremists in Norway and al-Qaeda, and carried out an operation a year ago to round up members of an alleged terrorist cell with links to Britain.
As far as al-Qaeda is concerned, there are a number of possible motives for selecting Norway as a target. Among the first would be the country’s presence in Afghanistan, though there are only about 500 Norwegian troops stationed there.
Nevertheless, in late 2007, Ayman al-Zawahiri, now the leader of al-Qaeda after the death of Osama bin Laden, said the group would target Norway because it “participated in the war against the Muslims”.
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