Norway police say UK crime technician aids probe

Reporting from Oslo — Norwegians have always taken pride in their open, trusting society.

It's a country where you might encounter the prime minister at the grocery store and offer a hug. Many police don't carry guns and most government buildings are unprotected. Homicide is rare, with only a handful of gun-related deaths a year.

But as Otto Lovik stood Sunday on a muddy lakeshore overlooking Utoya Island and recalled how he rescued about 60 people fleeing Friday's massacre by a gunman, the 56-year-old prison guard, still shaking from the experience, said his country must change.

Norwegian police said Sunday that a British police expert was aiding a probe of attacks that killed at least 93 people as part of cooperation with foreign forces.

"We have received help from the Metropolitan police in London by a criminal technician expert," acting police chief Sveinung Sponheim told a news conference. He said that Norwegian police were also sending out information via Interpol.

Sponheim also said that a police officer had been due to be on the island where the gunman massacred at least 86 people. It took about an hour for police to arrive.

"There was supposed to be a police officer there," he said, adding that it was unclear where he was.

At least 91 dead in Norway shooting

OSLO - A suspected far-right gunman in police uniform killed at least 84 people in a ferocious attack on a youth summer camp of Norway's ruling Labor party, hours after a bomb killed seven in Oslo.

Witnesses said the gunman, identified by police as a 32-year-old Norwegian, moved across the small, wooded island of Utoeya in a lake northwest of Oslo Friday, firing at young people who scattered in panic or tried to swim to safety.

Red Bulls sporting director Erik Soler, who hails from Norway and has deep connections there, said his daughter works only 200 feet away from where bombs were detonated in Oslo.

“She was able to get to safety, run away,” Soler said tonight. “I just got a message from her this second. She said the whole country is at a total standstill. They’re shocked. It’s unbelievable.

“Everybody is simply unable to understand it. It’s really hard. Apart from that, my family and friends as far as I know there is nobody involved. I might possibly know some of the families who lost kids on that island because Oslo is a small city and I know a lot of people. I’m prepared for some bad news, but we’ll have to see.”

“It’s very unreal,” fullback Jan Gunnar Solli, an Arendal, Norway, native, said. “I’ve been calling my friends back in Oslo and my family, but they’re not from there. Actually, I have one friend who live four blocks away and his window was blown out from the explosion. It’s been terrible. Of course, following it on the news on my computer — it’s been a strange 24 hours.

“It was nice to clear my mind and just focus on the game. It was nice everyone was carrying a black band to show respect for the victims. It is a small country. What has happened is a terrible thing.

Pope Calls For Unity Against Hatred and Evil:Norway Victims

The Pope, conducting Angelus at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome, said he was deeply saddened by the news of the attacks.

He said: "Once again, unfortunately, arrives the news of death and violence. We all feel deep sorrow for the serious acts of terrorism that occurred in Norway.

Memorial services were held across the country after at least 92 were killed and 97 wounded from the twin attacks on Friday.

The suspect for both attacks, Anders Behring Breikviks, a 32-year-old Norwegian right-wing fanatic, was arrested on Friday and is now in custody.

On Sunday, the Pope Benedict XVI expressed deep sorrow for the victims of the attacks. He renewed his "sad appeal to abandon forever the path of hatred and flee from the rationale of evil."

Speaking to 4,000 liturgy attendants in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace in Castel Gandolfo, the Pope urged people to follow the moral conscience, which teaches to distinguish between good and evil and avoid the latter, said AsiaNews.

In Solomon's case, the request was motivated by the duty of leading a nation, Israel, the people God chose to manifest to the world his plans of salvation. The King of Israel therefore had to try to be always in tune with God, listening to His Word, in order to lead the people on the ways of the Lord as well as on the path of justice and peace."

"But, Solomon's example applies to every man.

Each one of us has a conscience and in a certain way is also 'king'. This means we can exercise the great human dignity of acting according to the right conscience doing good and avoiding evil.

The moral conscience presupposes a capacity to listen to the voice of truth, and to be meek towards its indications. People called to political office naturally have more responsibilities, and thus, as Solomon teaches, need God's help even more."

"But each one of us has his own duty to perform in our respective circumstances.

A wrong mindset tells us to ask God for favors, be they things or conditions. In reality, the true quality of our own life and that of society depends on man's right conscience, on everyone's capacity to recognize good, separating it from evil, and patiently try to implement it."

"I want to repeat my appeal to everyone to give up forever the path of hate and to escape from the logic of evil," said Pope Benedict.

He further called on Norwegians to be "spiritually united" and to "work together fearlessly in shaping a future of mutual respect, solidarity and freedom for coming generations.