koronat: 'A madman's work': 80 killed at youth camp; Official says no link to terrorists; death toll in attack could rise; Gunman dressed as cop is also suspect in deadly Norway bombing.(News)

Byline: Nils Myklebost; The Associated Press

OSLO, Norway -- A Norwegian who dressed as a police officer killed at least 80 people attending a political conference for young people at an island retreat, police said Saturday.

It took investigators several hours to realize the full scope of Friday's massacre, which followed an explosion in nearby Oslo that killed seven and that police say was set off by the same suspect.

The attacks stunned a country better known for the Nobel Peace Prize than for violence, and they seemed sure to force a cultural shift in a society in which government buildings are lightly protected.

Police initially said about 10 were killed at the forested camp on the island of Utoya, but police director Oystein Maeland said early Saturday that police had discovered many more victims, some as young as 16.

"It's taken time to search the area. What we know now is that we can say that there are at least 80 killed at Utoya," Maeland said. "It goes without saying that this gives dimensions to this incident that are exceptional."

Maeland said the death toll could rise, as others were severely injured.

A suspect in the shootings and the Oslo explosion was arrested on the island. Though police did not release his name, Norwegian national broadcaster NRK identified him as Anders Behring Breivik, 32, and said police searched his Oslo apartment overnight.

A police official said the suspect appears to have acted alone in both attacks, and that "it seems like that this is not linked to any international terrorist organizations at all." The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

"It seems it's not Islamic-terror related," the official said. "This seems like a madman's work."

Breivik was characterized by officials as a right-wing extremist with anti-Muslim views.

The motive was unknown, but both attacks were in areas connected to the ruling Labor Party government. The youth camp, about 20 miles northwest of Oslo, is organized by the party's youth wing, and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg had been scheduled to speak there Saturday.

The blast in Oslo, Norway's capital and the city where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded, left a square covered in twisted metal, shattered glass and documents expelled from surrounding buildings. Most of the windows in the 20-floor high-rise where Stoltenberg and his administration work were shattered. Other buildings damaged house government offices and the headquarters of some of Norway's leading newspapers.

Microsoft said a few windows were broken at its Development Center in Oslo, but no employees were hurt.

Many residents of Oslo said the attacks would have a deep impact. For years, the most fortified building in Oslo has been the U.S. Embassy, the subject of eye-rolling from those who thought the security measures were unnecessary.

"This is one of those events that will change everything," Christopher Wright, 35, of Oslo, said by telephone. He was at a bakery a thousand feet from the government buildings when the explosion happened. The dust-fogged scene after the blast reminded one visitor from New York of Sept. 11.

Ian Dutton, who was in a nearby hotel, said people "just covered in rubble" were walking through "a fog of debris."

"It wasn't any sort of a panic," he said, "It was really just people in disbelief and shock, especially in such a safe and open country as Norway. You don't even think something like that is possible."

Dave and Jane Miletich, of Vancouver, Wash., were walking through Oslo when they heard the explosion. They were on their way back to their hotel, next door to the bombed building, when they found the street blocked off and police everywhere. They and about 200 others from their hotel were not allowed to re-enter and were taken to another hotel.

"There was ambulance after ambulance after ambulance going to the site," Dave Miletich said. "It was very chaotic."

Police said the Oslo explosion was caused by "one or more" bombs.

The police official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Oslo bombing occurred at 3:26 p.m. local time and the camp shootings began one to two hours later. The official said the gunman used both automatic weapons and handguns, and that there was at least one unexploded bomb at the youth camp that a police bomb-disposal team and military experts were working to disarm.

National Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim, said seven people were killed by the blast in Oslo, and nine or 10 people were seriously injured.

On the island, aerial images broadcast by Norway's TV2 showed members of a SWAT team dressed in black arriving in boats and running up the dock. Behind them, people who stripped down to their underwear swam away from the island toward shore, some using flotation devices.

Stoltenberg, the prime minister, was home when the blast occurred. He visited injured people at the hospital late Friday and decried what he called "a cowardly attack on young innocent civilians."

"I have message to those who attacked us," he said. "It's a message from all of Norway: You will not destroy our democracy and our commitment to a better world."

NRK showed video in Oslo of a blackened car lying on its side amid the debris. A reporter who was in the office of the Norwegian news agency NTB said the building shook from the blast and all employees were evacuated.

In Washington, D.C., President Obama expressed his condolences to Norway and offered U.S. support as Norwegian authorities investigate the incidents.

At least two Islamic extremist groups tried to take responsibility for the attacks. Many intelligence analysts said they had never heard of Helpers of Global Jihad. The Kurdish group Ansar al-Islam also claimed responsibility. Norway has been dealing with a homegrown terrorist plot linked to al-Qaida. Two suspects are in jail awaiting charges.

Seattle Times reporters Sharon Chan and Nancy Bartley contributed to this report.

Material from The Washington Post and The New York Times is included in this report.

Worst shootings

Some of world's worst mass shootings:

July 22, 2011: At least 80 people are killed at a summer camp on the Norwegian island of Utoya. A man arrested also is suspected in a blast earlier the same day in Oslo that killed seven.

April 16, 2007: Seung-Hui Cho, 23, killed 32 people and himself on Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Va.

April 28, 1996: Martin Bryant, 29, killed 20 people at a cafeteria in Port Arthur in Tasmania, Australia; while driving away, he killed 15 others. He was imprisoned.

Oct. 16, 1991: George Hennard, 35, killed 23 people at a Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, before killing himself.

The Associated Press

CAPTION(S):

Jan Bjerkeli / AFP / Getty Images: Utoya Island: Members of a SWAT team aim their weapons while people take cover at Utoya Island on Friday, where at least 80 people were killed. A suspect was arrested. (0417657327)

Svein Gustav Wilhelmsen / AFP / Getty Images: Utoya Island: A wounded woman is brought ashore after being rescued from a gunman Friday who dressed up like a police officer. (0417656916)

Morten Holm / The Associated Press: Oslo: An injured woman is helped out of a damaged building in Oslo after a bombing killed seven people. (0417655603)

The Seattle Times: Site of blast; site of shooting (G3T1S3M5J)

Thomas Winje Aijord / The Associated Press: Rescue workers (in background) arrive to help the injured after the explosion in Oslo that killed seven people. (0417656108)

'A madman's work': 80 killed at youth camp; Official says no link to terrorists; death toll in attack could rise; Gunman dressed as cop is also suspect in deadly Norway bombing.(News)