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>> and now, "bbc world news." >> at least eight are dead after a gunman opened fire at a youth camp on an island outside of the norwegian capital oslo. earlier, a bomb exploded in the capital, killing at least seven. the two incidents are believed to be linked. a norwegian man has been arrested. police say he has ties to right- wing extremism. this is the worst violence in norway since the second world war. hello and welcome to bbc news.

at least 80 people were killed on the island of utoeya when a gunman opened fire. many other people have been injured. police have also confirmed that a 32-year-old ethnic norwegian man has been arrested in connection with this incident and the earlier bombing in the capital. the man has links to right-wing extremists. he has been named by some media outlets in norway but the police have not confirmed his identity. an explosion tore through the headquarters of the norwegian government building in oslo killing at least seven people. two hours later, and then opened fire on the island of utoeya -- a man opened fire on the island of utoeya at a youth camp. the attacks are considered the

worst violence since the second world war. i asked for confirmation of the huge number of casualties. >> that is the latest figure from the island, 80 young people were shot on this island. >> this is a shocking development, because we have heard that around 10 had been killed. we thought many people were escaping into the water. it is very difficult to comprehend what happened on that island. >> it is very difficult for the police to comprehend too. we have many people working on this island and it is a very difficult situation. we want to be certain about the numbers. that is the latest confirmed no. now, 80 people dead on the

island. >> are you concerned at that figure could potentially go up? >> it can, but not so much since the last picture. >> if you could just bring us up-to-date on the police operation, our police still searching for bodies and are there still any young people on the island? >> there is still an ongoing operation on the island. there is an ambulance and health personnel on the island. it is still an ongoing operation. >> have the people that -- the bodies that have been recovered, have they been identified? do the parents know? >> no, we have not been able to contact everybody yet. we have telephone for the

parents. they have the telephone number they can go into. >> it is just difficult to comprehend the numbers. how is it possible that one gunman killed so many people? what kind of device was using? do you know that yet? >> we're having an investigation and we are hopeful the investigation will show how this was possible. >> can you name the gunmen who was responsible for this? >> the police does not want to name this person yet. >> that was a spokesman for the oslo police confirming that 80 people were killed on the island of utoeya. we look back at the day's events. >> an atrocity in oslo.

>> hello? hello? >> a huge bomb blast ripped through the center of the norwegian capital, killing, meaning, destroying. it could have been even worse if so many people had not already left for the weekend. the prime minister, a possible target, escaped unharmed. >> suddenly, we saw glass coming behind us. we were told to go to the back room. when we came out onto the streets and saw that everything was damaged, we were told that it was a bomb. i do not know. >> we have a very unclear situation. we do not have details of what happened. asked everyone to leave central oslo. >> and then, confusingly, news of a second attack two hours later. a man dressed in a fake police uniform began shooting at a youth camp put on by the ruling party.

some tried to swim away and were shot as they fled. he has been arrested. the police have their biggest clue. >> i have a message to whoever did this. it is a message from of norway. you will not destroy us. you will not destroy our democracy. >> norway mobilized every available facility. with leaves canceled, experts were called from holiday. world leaders offered their condolences. >> i want to personally extend my condolences to the people of norway and, it is a reminder that the entire international community has a stake in preventing this kind of terror from occurring. >> as the investigation gets under way, britain has promised

intelligence cooperation. forensic, eyewitness accounts and telephone analysis will all be fed in. the unanswered questions are, who was behind this and why? >> richard capt. is on his way to the island of -- richard galpin is on his way to the island of utoeya. he filed this report. >> they fear there may be more bodies in the water. boats are searching. we know that when the gunmen opened fire on this island, there was huge panic. there's got to be something like 600-700 people who were on the island at the time. some of them took to the water and tried to swim away. there is a fear that more bodies will be found in the water.

those in the red cross were saying to me that there may also be more victims inside the building where the bomb explosion took place in the mid afternoon here in central oslo because it is difficult for the emergency services to get inside the building. there is a concern that there might be more bombs in the area. there has been very significant damage to the building, so it is dangerous from that point of view for the emergency services to get in. it has taken them a bit of time. >> we know that the suspect who is in custody at the moment is 32 and norwegian. what more can you tell us? >> we do not have much more detail than that. obviously, it is significant that he is norwegian. what we do know is that there are facebook accounts under his name. we do not know if they are genuine or not, but they potentially indicate that he was someone who held fairly

fanatical views. beyond that, we do not have much information. one thing i can say is that certainly in the past, norway did have a problem with neo-nazi groups. the assumption was that those groups had been stamped out and did not pose a significant threat. >> today presents a great shock for what is a very peaceful country and a very open society. >> it has been a huge shock. norway has never experienced anything like this ever before in the past. yes, absolute horror. people totally stunned by what has happened. the fact that it was such a massive explosion right in the heart of the city and the ease with which the heart of the government was targeted. this bomb went off between the building housing the prime

minister's office and the oil ministry, which is obviously a very important ministry. norway's economy depends very much on oil and gas. would it appears, according to the police, is that the person or one of the people involved in the bombing attack was then able to drive down to the island, get out of his car, get onto the island and an open fire. apparently he was armed with several weapons and fired off a lot of bullets and then was eventually arrested. >> he is on his way to the island of utoeya forest. a professor of political science who has written on terrorism gave his response to these attacks. >> this is the norwegian version of timothy mcveigh. when we saw the attacks at the

central government area earlier on, people were thinking about al qaeda and so on and so forth. studying terrorism for many years, what was really the danger in norway was right-wing terrorism. perhaps the police and security forces have been so lax over the years because according to the international environment, people were thinking about terrorism from al qaeda and so on and so forth. they had forgotten something. >> when you say that it could be potentially down to somebody who was affiliated with neo-naziism,

do you think it was someone who supported the extreme right wing? >> yes. there is no doubt. we see the connection. nobody doing any other kind of terrorism would connect this big bomb blast at the center of the political environment in norway and then go over to this island, which is a remote island, which you would have to know about, and then start killing people. it is so domestic, this terrorism. >> the question that the norwegian leader was meant to be at either one of these locations, i assume you believe this makes it a very politically motivated attack. >> absolutely. absolutely. al-qaeda terrorism would go to the mainframe station in oslo and blow that up.

-- main train station in oslo and blow that up. this is so local, so norwegian, so to speak. we have our domestic terrorism now. >> that was a professor and terrorist expert. earlier, the norwegian prime minister, jens stoltenberg, delivered a somber statement about the attacks and called on norway to stand together in this time of crisis. >> we have all been shaken by the evil that struck us so brutally. this is an evening demanding a lot from all of us, and the days following will demand even more. nor will stand together in time of crisis. -- norway will stand together in

a time of crisis. we suffer with the wounded. we feel with the relatives. >> the norwegian prime minister. still to come, we have much more on the dramatic events in norway, so to stay with us. -- do stay with us. let's stay with norway. we have more details about the attack on the summer camp. >> there are reports coming out now, unconfirmed reports that the shooter may be one of several shooters in this youth camp. he spoke perfect norwegian, had blond hair and seemed like a scandinavian. that is information that goes directly against everything that

people believed until now, that this was some foreign terrorist organization doing this. if that is correct, we really do not know what is happening here, if there is a norwegian doing this. we got an unconfirmed report about several more than the 10 people that have been confirmed until now. we know eight youth are in very bad condition and in hospital. there are a lot of bodies in this camp. there are bodies floating in the water. the exact number, we do not know. we know it will increase. that is all we know at this time. >> we now know that 80 people were killed. seven died in the explosion in the center of oslo. >> it sounded to me like thunder. thunder or some kind of explosion. it was pretty wild how it felt. my entire apartment building was

actually shaking. also, the windows of my apartment, it seemed like they were about to give in, to crumble. that frightened me. and gone on line and about 20 minutes after checking -- i got on line and about 20 minutes after checking some stuff i found out it was an explosion, not just a thunderstorm. >> our main story tonight, norway has been hit by two terror attacks in quick succession in which police say at least 80 people were killed. police have arrested a 32-year- old ethnic norwegian man. they say he has links to right- wing extremism. earlier my colleague spoke to a mother of a teenager at the camp who witnessed the shooting. she told us her story.

>> i had to hide in the toilet -- i heard from her that she had to hide in the toilet for an hour. i have been in contact with her the whole time. she was hiding. i had control over her, so that is fine. i do not know how to say it. evening or afternoon, i do not want anybody else to be through what i have been through here. >> begin only just begin to imagine what you have been going through. so, she was hiding in the toilet and aware that there was a ben mann on the lease outside. gunman on the loose upside.

>> he came up. he looked like a policeman. then he started to shoot everybody at the same time. all the kids are running. they tried to hide. some tried to swim to the mainland. others just try to hide in the bushes, the rhinestones. my daughter managed to run into -- behind stones. my daughter managed to run into the toilet along with some other girls and hide in there. she told me, now they're shooting again. now it is silent. now there is a helicopter. back and forth all the time. i tried to keep her calm and said, do not live anywhere. i also called the police, of course. they send somebody. we just had a contact all the time so i know about it, but it

was scary, scary scary. you could over hear the shooting. >> just to be clear, while she was hiding in the toilet with her friends, she and you were texting each other with the gunmen outside. >> yes. >> was she aware that other teenagers were being killed? >> yes, because there were outside the toilet door asking for help. i think he died. she said so at least. she did not know the person, but he died outside the door. >> these were people outside the door trying to get in? >> nobody tried to get in. i do not know where he comes from, the boy that was outside her door, if he just tried to run out of there. they did not come into the toilet because she was there all

the time. they could hear the helicopter coming. i told them that the police were on their way. please be quiet. stay in the toilet. do not go out before everything is safe. then she said, police is here. talk to you later. there are 500-600 people out there, young people, from 14 years old. some people were hiding and i just talked to her. some are shot in the head. some in the shoulder, foote, oot, hands.ia >> did the gunmen say anything

while the shooting was going on? >> i have not heard anything about that. >> how is your daughter? >> i do not know. i have not met her yet. i think i am going to pick her up now. i do not know what to say. they are 15 years. they have been through something like this. she has talked to some of her friends but still some of her friends are missing. she does not know if they are alive or in hospital. that is what she is really upset about right now. everything has been well organized. we have had information. it is 600 people on an island. it is in the forest. they're camping with tents. they have been hiding everywhere, so people have just been trying to find them on the island. some of them tried to swim to

the mainland somehow. i do not think the police have an easy job to figure out the situation. a lot of children are in the hospital. but they do not know who is disappeared. other people here do not know if their children are alive or not. >> that was a mother whose daughter was actually trapped on the island and witnessed the shooting there. we have a person from the hospital who has been treating some of the victims in the bombing explosion. he said that patients are severely injured and in critical condition. >> we're taking care of 22 potentially severely injured people. many are severely injured. some have actually been critical. so far, all patients brought here are still alive. >> much more on norway still to come, but let's get some of the

day's other news. reuters is quoting residents of syria who say that two explosions have been heard inside the syrian war college. protests continue against president bashar al-assad. heavy gunfire was heard near the military compound. there is no comment from the syrian authority. in libya, seven large explosions reported overnight in the capital of tripoli are thought to be air strikes by nato fighter planes. four explosions rocked the hotel where much of the international media is stationed. there are no reports of damage or casualties. meanwhile, representatives of colonel gaddafi's government have said that they are ready to hold more talks with senior u.s. officials. the offer comes after more than four months of nato bombing

raids. we report from tripoli. >> which one man still dominates life in tripoli? the answer can almost be seen from space. tonight, colonel gaddafi's supporters and build a giant picture of their leader. they say it is -- unveiled a giant picture of their leader. they say it is the biggest banner in the world and a good luck charm. >> do you want to protect him? >> we will protect him. we will burn down all the world. >> we were invited to watch the demonstrators in tripoli square. >> where ever you look here, there are pictures of colonel gaddafi. he will not appear in public because of the nato bombing campaign. his supporters have to make do

with photographs instead of the real thing. >> even in his hometown, the leader has not made an appearance. we are escorted into town to watch a rally by his supporters. it is hard to get a sense of life beyond official demonstrations, but we did film these shots in the evening in tripoli. right here, there is no immediate sense of siege. if people are worried about losing a leader or a war, they are hiding it well. >> let's get a reminder of our main story tonight, and that is that police in norway say at least 80 people are now known to have been killed in the shooting of the youth camp on the island of utoeya near oslo. they say that many others are injured and they fear the number of dead may rise further. you can, of course, continue to get the latest developments on that story on our website.

>> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put its global financial strength to work for a wide range of

companies. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.