Beslan in Norway - Norway Children's Camp Shooting: 'As Many As 30 Dead'

Several of us at IBA (and elsewhere, of course) have been warning about this for years, our voices mostly lost in the politically correct wilderness.

Now it's happened not in the U.S. but in Norway.

The Jihad has deliberately targeted the kids, mostly 14 to 18 year olds.

Every parent's ultimate nightmare. Let their child off to youth camp or summer camp or Girl Scout Camp (where mine is right now) or Boy Scout Camp or Bible Retreat where they will be safe and taken care of. And then it goes bad and you cannot get to your child. To make sure they're ok. To make sure they're not terrified out of their mind.

Where's your son or daughter. right now?

MSNBC:

Gunman summoned victims and 'just executed them'
Lasse Tur / AP
By M. Alex Johnson, msnbc.com reporter

UPDATE 3:35 p.m. ET: Police said they were confident they had been able to identify the gunman, whom they had in custody. They did not release his identity, but they said they had confirmed that they had "reason to believe" he was connected to the Oslo bombing.

NRK reporter Astrid Randen quoted witnesses as saying the man — described as "tall, blond and Nordic-looking" and speaking Norwegian — wore a police uniform and summoned youth campers to gather around him before he "just executed them."

People in at least 20 pleasure boats converged on the island to help with the rescue operation. One of them, André Skeie, told NRK that he saw at least a dozen "lifeless bodies" floating in the water.

Skeie said he helped remove more than 15 injured people from the island. Many of them were shot in the stomach, he said.

"It's absolutely awful. It looks like a war zone," Skeie said by phone.


Skynews:

Norway Camp Shooting: 'As Many As 30 Dead'
As many as 30 people are feared dead in a shooting at a Norwegian youth camp after a bomb hit the capital Oslo killed at least seven.

Shots were fired by a man dressed as a police officer at a youth meeting of the ruling Labour Party in Utoya - an island on the outskirts near the capital.
An eyewitness reported seeing between 25 and 30 bodies.
Norwegian police said they thought there could also be explosives on the island.
Around 600 people were believed to be taking part in the summer camp - most of whom were teenagers aged between 14 and 18.
Police said that Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg had been due to attend the event.
One man was arrested after the incident - he was described as tall and blonde, and spoke fluent Norwegian.
Sky sources reported he was shot and wounded during the arrest.
Police said they suspected he was linked to the bombing in Oslo.
Emilie Bersaas, 19, was on the island when the shooting started and said that people started running and screaming when they heard the gunfire.
"People are very shaken up as we do not know who is fine and who is not," she said.
"There are a lot of people I do not know anything about.
"It was terrifying - at one point, the shooting was very close to me and hit the building I was in.
"The people in the next room screamed loudly."
The bomb attack struck on Friday afternoon near government and media offices
Sky's security editor Sam Kiley said a specialist swat team had carried out the arrest of the gunman.
"The fact they captured him alive is a major breakthrough because they will be able to establish from him if it is an ongoing attack," he said.
"The intelligence community has been expecting that a Mumbai-style attack has been imminent since a year ago.
"The worst-case scenario is not just multiple attacks in one country, but in several countries.
"So we can expect to see a rise in preventative security."
Security expert Bob Ayers said there are only a limited amount of things that can be done to protect people.
"The only thing (authorities) can do is interfere in the planning phase before people are killed.
"If you can not do that, you have to be prepared to react rapidly."
The shooting happened after police confirmed there were "one or more powerful explosions at a government building in Oslo".
Police told people in the Norwegian capital to stay away from the city centre and limit the use of mobile phones.
They also warned them to avoid large gatherings.
At least seven people are believed to have been killed in the bombing and several injured, in the deadliest attack in Norway since World War II.
Sky sources said that survivors reported a strong smell of sulphur which has led to police investigating the theory this was a car bomb using fertiliser nitrate.
Sam Kiley said that earlier this year, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula released a bomb-making handbook which contained notes on how to build fertiliser bombs.
"The know how is out there and the materials are out there," he said.
And he added that if it was a fertiliser car bomb, it would have been very damaging.
"You could get a ton of relatively high explosive concentrated in a metal box - then what you have is a gigantic grenade."
The explosion was outside the building that housed the offices of the Prime Minister, although he was not there at the time.
It was also near the finance ministry and the offices of Norway's biggest tabloid newspaper.
Mr Stoltenberg described the situation as "very serious" but said it was too soon to say what caused the explosion.
The Mayor of Oslo, Fabian Stang, said he would not have believed Norway could be attacked.
He said that he had initially hoped the explosion had been caused by an accident.
Asked about the attack on the youth camp on the island, Mr Stang said he wished he could have been there: "To stand in front of the young people and ask the gunman to shoot me instead."
Craig Barnes lives in Oslo and said that he was shocked at what happened.
"It is a very nice, safe place to live," he said.
"Norwegians are very friendly and I think everyone gets on.
"I think this is going to change a lot of views now. There will be questions regarding safety."
Norwegian police have reported there were 'deaths and injuries'
Nato member Norway has been the target of threats in the past - particularly for its involvement in Afghanistan and Libya.
The country has also experienced problems with several home-grown terror plots linked to al Qaeda.
Last week, a Norwegian prosecutor filed terror charges against an Iraqi-born cleric for threatening Norwegian politicians with death if he was deported.
The Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, posted a message on Twitter about the bombs, and said "We are all Norwegians."
Foreign Secretary, William Hague, said that any British nationals caught up in the attack would be able to get help from the Embassy.
Meanwhile, there was condemnation from the European Union president Herman Van Rompuy, who described the bombing as an act of "cowardice".
An American state department spokeswoman said they "condemned these despicable acts of violence".