Suspect in Norway attacks admits involvement, denies responsibility

OSLO — The suspect in Norway’s recent bombing and shooting attacks has acknowledged to police that he carried them out, but he insists he is not criminally responsible, his lawyer said late Saturday night.

The incidents took place after years of planning, according to a 1,500-page manifesto that the suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, had posted on the Web. Though the manifesto is in English, and there had been some doubts about its authenticity, Breivik admitted that it was his doing, his lawyer, Geir Lippestad, told the state broadcasting company.

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Two coordinated terror attacks in Norway have left at least 92 dead. Flags flew at half-staff and the Army patrolled the streets, in a city that just endured its worst peacetime attack in history. (July 23)

Two coordinated terror attacks in Norway have left at least 92 dead. Flags flew at half-staff and the Army patrolled the streets, in a city that just endured its worst peacetime attack in history. (July 23)

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Breivik argued that he was forced to act to help save Europe from multiculturalism. His targets at the shooting site were teenage members of the social democratic Labor Party.

At a memorial service for the victims Sunday, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said: “Every one of those gone is a tragedy. Together it counts as a national disaster.”

He spoke of friends who were killed at Utoya, appearing to be on the edge of tears himself as sobs rang out in the church.

“In the middle of all the tragedy, I am proud to live in a country which has managed to stand tall in a critical time,” he said. “Our response is more democracy, more openness and more humanity, but never naivete.”

Oslo’s acting police chief, Sveinung Sponheim, said Sunday that police are still searching for bodies on the island where the attack took place. The death toll stands at 92, with at least four people missing. Police haven’t ruled out the possibility that Breivik may have had an accomplice, but have no suspects, Sponheim said.

On Sunday morning, police raided an industrial site in eastern Oslo. A spokesman told Norwegian newspapers that the action was connected to Friday’s attacks. Apparently, officers were looking for explosives that might have been stored there. A residential building on the site, which appears to be a prefabricated structure, was cleared of its inhabitants. Neighbors told the VG newspaper that they thought most of the people living on the premises were from Eastern Europe.

Police said they found no explosives in the search of the commercial property. A few residents were questioned but released.

Breivik is due to appear in court Monday for a hearing. He is also being examined by a police doctor.

His huge manifesto touches on everything from medieval history to the wars in Yugoslavia to weaponry to why Budapest is his favorite city. He writes a lot about sugar beets because they require large amounts of fertilizer; he suggests that anyone wanting to make explosives should grow beets commercially to justify large fertilizer purchases.

He apparently grew beets himself. The manifesto also includes a detailed diary of the past 80 days, in which he describes his meticulous planning for the car bombing in downtown Oslo and the subsequent shooting rampage on the island of Utoeya.

Overall, the huge collection of writing is a screed against Islam and the consequences of immigration to Europe. Breivik writes that a fourth-generation war is necessary to preserve the European people. He defends the Serbs for the war in Bosnia. He also says the man he’d most like to meet is Vladimir V. Putin, Russia’s prime minister. He attacks neo-Nazis for glorifying Adolf Hitler because, he writes, by killing Jews, Hitler was opening the door to an Islamic resurgence. Breivik also criticizes some Jews — those who are anti-Zionist.

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