The man linked to a deadly bombing and shooting spree in Norway has confessed to firing weapons on an island near the nation's capital and has been charged under the country's terror laws, police confirmed Saturday.
As the Nordic massacre's death toll rose to at least 92 people on Saturday, information continued to trickle out about the mass tragedy and the man thought to be behind the carnage.
It has also been learned that the man purchased a six-ton cache of fertilizer before the twin attacks, the supplier revealed on Saturday.
The suspect was arrested on Friday, shortly after a gunman dressed as a police officer opened fire on a youth camp on Utoya, an island just outside Norway's capital.
Police said the gunman was shooting for an hour and a half before surrendering to a SWAT team that arrived 40 minutes after they were called.
Spokesperson for agricultural material supplier Felleskjopet told the Associated Press that the suspect had bought an amount equivalent to 200 50-pound bags over several weeks leading up to Friday’s attacks. Fertilizer can be used in homemade bombs and is highly explosive. Though more isn’t yet known about where or how the bomb was detonated, U.S. intelligence officials told the AP that six tons was too much to fit in one vehicle. As the army patrolled the city's streets early Saturday, the country's prime minister Jens Stoltenberg told reporters:
"This is beyond comprehension. It's a nightmare. It's a nightmare for those who have been killed, for their mothers and fathers, family and friends."
Named by media as 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik, the blond, blue-eyed suspect reportedly owns a vegetable farm, and has posted on Christian fundamentalist websites. He has been initially charged with terrorism, and the death toll of the twin attacks is 92, though police say that some are still missing.
The suspect's Oslo appartment has been cordoned off by police as they search for more information on his background. An investigation of his digital presence is also underway. A Twitter account belonging to Breivik bears only one tweet from July 17th, apparently referencing English philosopher John Stuart Mill:
One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interest.
Authorities said Breivik also owns several firearms and belongs to a gun club; the suspect used pistols and automatic guns to murder at least 80 young people at the island of Utoya, shooting many as they fled into the water in an attempt to escape. Police, who are currently pursuing witness accounts of a second shooter, say that some of the bodies pulled from the water in an ongoing search appear to be drowning victims.
While the suspect reportedly has displayed right-wing politics and anti-Muslim views online, authorities said he did not appear to belong to any of the country’s splintered political extremist groups.
“He just came out of nowhere,” a police official told the AP. “He hasn’t been on our radar, which he would have been if was active in the neo-Nazi groups in Norway.
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