A Norwegian right-wing fanatic who killed at least 93 people believes his acts were atrocious but necessary, his lawyer said, as the nation mourned victims of its worst attacks since World War II.
Anders Behring Breivik, 32, who admitted to carrying out both attacks, says he acted alone.
Police were investigating yesterday whether a possible second gunman took part in the shooting massacre and bomb attack on Friday that traumatised a normally peaceful Nordic country.
They said twin attacks claimed their 93rd victim, when one of the injured died in hospital, reports AFP.
Police said they were seeking several missing people and the toll could rise to 98, in the worst case.
NECESSARY!
In his first comment via a lawyer since he was arrested, Anders Behring Breivik expressed willingness to explain himself in court at a hearing likely to be held today about extending his custody.
"He has said that he believed the actions were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary," lawyer Geir Lippestad told independent TV2 news, adding that his client admitted to both the shootings and the bombing.
Breivik was also arrested for the bombing in Oslo's government district that killed seven people hours earlier. Police believe Breivik drove to Utoeya after the explosion in the capital.
Lippestad, speaking late on Saturday, did not give more details of possible motives by Breivik.
Breivik hated "cultural marxists", wanted a "crusade" against the spread of Islam and liked guns and weightlifting, web postings, acquaintances and officials said.
A video posted on the YouTube website showed several pictures of Breivik, including one of him in a scuba diving outfit pointing an automatic weapon, reports Reuters.
"Before we can start our crusade we must do our duty by decimating cultural marxism," said a caption under the video called "Knights Templar 2083" on the YouTube website, which took down the video on Saturday.
A 1,500-page electronic manifesto written in English and said to be by Breivik - posted under the pseudonym of Andrew Berwick - was also put online hours before the attacks, suggesting they had been years in the planning.
"Once you decide to strike, it is better to kill too many than not enough, or you risk reducing the desired ideological impact of the strike," the book said.
The document and the video repeatedly refer to multiculturalism and Muslim immigration; the author claims to be a follower of the Knights Templar -- a medieval Christian organisation involved in the Crusades, and sometimes revered by white supremacists.
IMMIGRATION
Norway has traditionally been open to immigration, which has been criticised by the populist Progress Party, of which Breivik was a former member. The Labour Party, whose youth camp Breivik attacked, has long backed multi-culturalism to accommodate Norway's different ethnic communities.
About 100 people stood solemnly early on Sunday at a makeshift vigil near Oslo's main church, laying flowers and lighting candles.
"We are all in sorrow, everybody is scared," said Imran Shah, a Norwegian taxi driver of Pakistani heritage, as a light summer drizzle fell on unusually empty Oslo streets.
"At first, people thought Muslims were behind this," he said, referring to some initial suspicions that the attacks might have been by al-Qaeda, perhaps in protest at Nato-member Norway's role in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Breivik, tall and blond, owned a farming company called Breivik Geofarm, which a supply firm said he had used to buy fertiliser -- possibly to make the Oslo bomb.
Home-grown anti-government militants have struck elsewhere in the past, notably in the United States, where Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people with a truck bomb in Oklahoma City in 1995.
The district attacked is the heart of power in Norway. But security is not tight in a country unused to such violence and better known for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize and mediating in conflicts, including the Middle East and Sri Lanka.
YEARS OF PLANNING
Breivik's lawyer Geir Lippestad told Norwegian media, "He wanted a change in society and, from his perspective, he needed to force through a revolution," Lippestad said. "He wished to attack society and the structure of society."
He added that the actions had been planned for some time.
The suspect is reported to have had links with right-wing extremists.
Police have not speculated on motives for the attack but the bomb in Oslo targeted buildings connected to Norway's governing Labour Party, and the youth camp on Utoeya island was also run by the party.
His lawyer, Lippestad, said: "He's stated that he went to Utoeya to give the Labour Party a warning that 'doomsday would be imminent' unless the party changed its policies."
Lippestad says the suspect remained calmed and balanced throughout a 10-hour night of interrogation.
"I think he's realised what he's done, and he views himself as sane," he said.
Norway has had problems with neo-Nazi groups in the past but the assumption was that such groups had been largely eliminated and did not pose a significant threat, says the BBC's Richard Galpin, near the island which remains cordoned off by police.
Source : The Daily Star
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