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Saturday, 30 July 2011

Norway shooting: Funerals for Breivik victims

Many of those killed on 22 July were members of the governing Labour Party
The first funerals for victims of Norway's gun and bomb attacks have been held, a week after the attacks.
Police now say 77 people, most of them teenagers, were killed in Oslo and on nearby Utoeya island.
Norwegian leaders also joined relatives in Oslo for a memorial service for victims of the Utoeya shootings.
Killer Anders Behring Breivik was meanwhile questioned again by police. The names of the remaining victims, 36 in total, have now been released.
Police had previously put the total number of people known to have died at 76. Reports say the discrepancy can be explained by the fact that one of the Utoeya victims later died in hospital.
Police have stopped short of declaring a final death toll as the waters around Utoeya are still being searched for bodies.
Bano Rashid Bano Rashid, 18, was a Kurdish immigrant from Iraq
After a review of the killings on Friday, they said the risk of fresh attacks by extremist groups had not increased.
The first funerals were those of 18-year-old Bano Rashid, buried near Oslo, and of Ismail Haji Ahmed, 19, in the south-western town of Hamar.
Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere travelled to the Nesodden peninsula to attend the funeral of Ms Rashid, a Kurdish immigrant from Iraq.
Both victims were among the 69 people - mostly members of the Labour Party youth movement - who were shot dead on Utoeya last Friday.
Another eight people died when a massive bomb hit central Oslo earlier that day.
Mr Stoltenberg attended the memorial service in Oslo, along with most of his cabinet.
"Today it is one week since Norway was hit by evil," he said from a stage covered with red roses, the symbol of his governing Labour Party.
"We are not going to be shocked and intimidated into silence," he added. "The bravery that these young people have shown is catching. We're going to answer hatred with love. We're going to honour our heroes forever."
Later, Mr Stoltenberg visited a mosque to stress national unity.
Police have now identified all the dead and released the names of 36 more victims. Forty-one had been released previously.
The process took days because the authorities were scrupulously following a procedure of contacting relatives after they had positively identified victims.
The youngest was Sharidyn Svebakk-Boehn, who turned 14 just five days before the massacre.
Calm and co-operative Mr Breivik, who says he carried out both the Oslo bombing and the Utoeya massacre, is being questioned by police for the second time.
He has claimed he acted to stem what he called the Islamisation of western Europe, blaming the Norwegian government for allowing it to happen.
His current interrogation is focusing on whether there is "any more danger", according to police attorney Paal-Fredrik Hjort Kraby.
A composite photo shows 20 of the 76 who died on 22 July The names of all the victims are to be released later on Friday
Detectives wanted to question Mr Breivik on "information received over the last few days - which is a lot," said Mr Kraby.
Police said he was calm and co-operative.
Two psychiatrists have been appointed to assess his mental health and will report to prosecutors by 1 November.
After the hearing on Monday, which was closed to the public, the presiding judge said Mr Breivik had claimed there were two other cells working with him.
Despite the fears, Norwegian authorities have said they believe Mr Breivik acted alone. Police reiterated this view after the questioning.
"It is most likely that the perpetrator planned and carried out the actions with no support from others," a report released on Friday evening said.
"The terrorist acts bring no increase in the threat from known extreme right- or left-wing groups in Norway," it added.
Norwegian domestic intelligence chief Janne Kristiansen said no evidence had so far been found linking Mr Breivik with far-right extremists in Norway or elsewhere.
Norway's chief prosecutor has said he expects the indictment will not be ready before the end of the year.
Tor Aksel Busch said he hoped the trial could be held next year.

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