A week later, Norway mourns 76 victims of massacre

OSLO, Norway - July 29, 2011

An 18-year-old Muslim girl was the first victim to be laid to rest since an anti-immigrant gunman opened fire at a political youth camp and bombed the government headquarters in Oslo. After a funeral service in the Nesodden church outside the capital, Bano Rashid, a Kurdish immigrant from Iraq, was buried in a Muslim rite. Sobbing youth accompanied her coffin, which was draped in a Kurdish flag.

Police said all those killed in the terror attacks have been identified and that those who had been reported missing have been accounted for.

"Today it is one week since Norway was hit by evil," Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said at a memorial service in the assembly hall of the "People's House," a community center for Norway's labor movement.

The bullets struck dozens of members of the youth faction of his Labor Party, but they were aimed at the entire nation, Stoltenberg said, on a stage adorned with red roses, the symbol of his party.

"I think July 22 will be a very strong symbol of the Norwegian people's wish to be united in our fight against violence, and will be a symbol of how the nation can answer with love," he told reporters after the ceremony.

Members of the audience raised bouquets of flowers as each speaker took the stage, and some of them fought back tears as they spoke.

Labor Party youth-wing leader Eskil Pedersen, who was on the island retreat when the gunman started his shooting spree, said the attack "would not destroy Norway's commitment to democracy, tolerance and fighting racism."

"Long before he stands before a court we can say: he has lost," Pedersen said. He vowed that the youth organization would return to Utoya island - where the shootings occurred - next year for its annual summer gathering, a tradition that stretches back decades.

Another memorial service was being held at a mosque in an immigrant district of Oslo later Friday.

Anders Behring Breivik, a vehement anti-Muslim, was questioned by police Friday for the second time since surrendering to an anti-terror squad on Utoya, where his victims lay strewn across the shore and in the water. Many were teens who were gunned down as they tried to flee the onslaught.

In a 1,500-page manifesto released just before the attacks, Breivik ranted about Europe being overrun by Muslim immigrants and blamed left-wing political forces for making the continent multicultural.

Police attorney Paal-Fredrik Hjort Kraby said the 32-year-old Norwegian remained calm and cooperative during the questioning session, in which investigators reviewed with him his statements from an earlier session on Saturday. Investigators believe Breivik acted alone, after years of meticulous planning, and haven't found anything to support his claims that he's part of an anti-Muslim militant network plotting a series of coups d'etat across Europe.

Police also said they have identified all of the victims, 68 of whom were killed on the island and eight who died after a car bomb exploded in downtown Oslo. Breivik has confessed to both attacks but denies criminal guilt because he believes he's in a state of war, his lawyer and police have said.

Police have charged Breivik with terrorism, which carries a maximum sentence of 21 years in prison. However, it's possible the charge will change during the investigation to crimes against humanity, which carries a 30-year prison term, Norway's top prosecutor Tor-Aksel Busch told The Associated Press.

"Such charges will be considered when the entire police investigation has been finalized," he said. "It is an extensive investigation. We will charge Breivik for each individual killing."

Prosecutors can also seek a special kind of sentence that would enable the court to keep Breivik in prison indefinitely. A formal indictment isn't expected until next year, Busch said.

---

Associated Press Television News producer David Mac Dougall contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.