Twin Attacks in Norway Leave At Least 91 Dead

Updated July 23, 4:00 a.m. | At least 91 people died in Norway after a bomb blast in Oslo and a shooting spree at a summer camp left citizens of the Scandinavian nation in shock.

In Oslo, seven people died after a bomb shattered windows and damaged buildings used primarily by government employees, including Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, and Norwegian media organizations.

Later that afternoon at Utoya island, about 60 miles northwest of Oslo, a gunman killed at least 84 people at a summer camp organized by the country’s Labor Party. The gunman, a Norwegian who was later arrested, had been seen in Oslo before the explosion in that city, according to Norway’s acting national police chief.

No Harvard students are in Oslo on University-related research or programs, University spokesperson Kevin Galvin said in an email.

Ursula Lindqvist, the director of undergraduate studies for Scandinavian, called the city where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded “a very symbolic location to have this attack.”

“Nothing like this has ever happened in Oslo before,” Lindqvist said.

Initial speculation was that Islamic extremist groups were linked to the attacks, especially when two tried to take credit for them. Since then, Norwegian police said that a 32-year-old homegrown terrorist was responsible for both attacks. Media outlets there identified him as Anders Behring Breivik.

"I have message to those who attacked us," Stoltenberg said. "It's a message from all of Norway: You will not destroy our democracy and our commitment to a better world."

The attacks represented the worst violence the country had seen since World War II.

“Norwegians are a very insular society, but when you’re in Norway, it all feels like you’re in a magical wonderland,” Lindqvist said. “It feels like a place where nothing bad could ever happen.”

—Material from the Associated Press was used in the reporting of this article.

—Staff writer Leanna B. Ehrlich can be reached at lehrlich@college.harvard.edu.