Friday, July 22, 2011

Explosion Damages Buildings in Norwegian Capital

Global Terror

Explosion Damages Buildings in Norwegian Capital

Published July 22, 2011

| Associated Press

OSLO, Norway – DEVELOPING: A Norwegian government official says there are people trapped in the buildings hit by a bomb blast at the government headquarters in Oslo.

State Secretary Kristian Amundsen told BBC that "there are still people in the buildings" at the blast site. He declined to elaborate, saying: "I can't go into details."

He said this situation is the worst his country has seen.

A powerful bomb tore open several Oslo buildings, including the prime minister's office, on Friday, killing at least two and injuring about 15 people, a Norwegian news agency said. Several people also were injured, as the blast shattered windows and coated the street with documents.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is safe, government spokeswoman Camilla Ryste told The Associated Press. A senior adviser to the prime minister, Oivind Ostang, said Stoltenberg was working at home Friday and was not in the building.

Norwegian news agency NTB says police confirm the Oslo explosion was caused by a bomb. The country's public broadcaster, NRK, said one person was confirmed killed.

"There has been one or several powerful explosions in the government district in Oslo," Oslo police said in a brief statement.

"So far, police cannot say anything about the scope of the damage, aside from that there's been one or several explosions."

An Oslo police official, who would not give her name because she was not authorized to speak to the media, said "there are several people injured."

She said the cause of the explosion was not clear. Asked whether police suspected a terror attack, she said: "It's too early to speculate in that."

NRK showed video of a blackened car lying on its side amid the debris.

Most of the windows in the 20-floor high-rise were blown out, and the bottom floor appeared to be gutted. Nearby offices were also heavily damaged and evacuated, including those housing some of Norway's leading newspapers and news agency NTB.

Witness Ole Tommy Pedersen was standing at a bus stop about 100 meters from the high-rise at around 3:30 p.m.when the explosion occurred.

"I saw three or four injured people being carried out of the building a few minutes later," Pedersen told AP.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/07/22/explosion-damages-buildings-in-norwegian-capital/#ixzz1SqrFk0Mh

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