A suspected right-wing Christian gunman in police uniform killed at least 84 people in a ferocious attack on a youth summer camp of Norway's ruling Labour party, hours after a bomb killed seven in Oslo.
National police Chief Oystein Maeland said the attack had reached "catastrophic dimensions."
Witnesses said the gunman, identified by police as a 32-year-old Norwegian, moved across the small, wooded Utoeya holiday island on Friday firing at random as young people scattered in fear.
Police detained the tall, blond suspect, named by local media as Anders Behring Breivik, and charged him for the island killing spree and the Oslo bomb blast.
Norway's national news agency, NTB, reported Saturday that witnesses told police two people were involved in the shooting on the island and that police were looking into this. The report said the second man was not disguised in police uniform.
There are thought to have been hundreds of children on the island, aged from 11 or 12 to 18 or 19.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, capturing the shock the attacks have caused in this normally quiet nation of 4.8 million, said he had been to the island every summer since 1979, saying "my youth paradise, and now it's been changed to hell," according to a simultaneous translation provided by Sky News.
Deputy Police Chief Roger Andresen would not speculate on the man's motives but told a news conference: "He describes himself as a Christian, leaning toward right-wing Christianity, on his Facebook page."
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"As of now we have 84 dead at Utoeya," Andresen said. "In Oslo, with the explosion and the impact it had, we are not yet sure if that number is final. At Utoeya, the water is still being searched for more victims."
On Saturday, Stoltenberg, Norway's King Harald, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon arrived at a hotel where survivors and family members are staying to attempt to comfort them.
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After meeting survivors, Stoltenberg said Norwegian officials were working with foreign intelligence agencies to see if there there was any international involvement in attacks.
Video: Reports: Oslo bombing suspect prepped attacks in May
He said part of the police inquiry into what happened "is obviously to ... investigate whether there are any international connections.''
Witnesses described how teenagers at the lakeside camp fled screaming in panic when the attack began Friday, many leaping into the water to save themselves, as the assailant began spraying them with gunfire.
'Please no, please no'
Adrian Pracon, on official at the youth camp, gave an terrifying account to BBC News, describing how people were shot dead around him and he only survived by playing dead.
Pracon, speaking from his hospital bed, said when he first began to hear shooting, he thought it must be some kind of drill. Then he saw people he worked with trying to flee the gunman.
"As they were running, they were shot from behind, falling just in front of me," Pracon said.
Image: Utoya Island, Norway
Lasse Tur / AP
An aerial view of Utoya Island, Norway, taken Thursday.
He and a group of people then ran into the water and started swimming.
"I was the last man hitting the water and therefore I didn't have time to take my shoes and clothes off," Pracon told the BBC. "I had to return because the boots and clothes were pulling me under."
Story: Norway attack: Right-wing extremism emerging?
As he returned, the gunman was on the shore and Pracon thought he was about to die. "He saw me returning, he saw I was almost at the shore and pointed the barrel at me. At that time I yelled and cried 'Please no, please no.'"
Pracon told the BBC that for some reason the gunman "spared my life."
He said he lay down on the shore among a number of dead bodies and tried to play dead.
Bing / msnbc.com
"Then there approached 10 people. He started shooting at every single person, they were crying, they were screaming, people were falling over me. These were my friends," Pracon told the BBC. "While I was playing [dead], I had to shield myself with people. By playing dead, I believed I saved my own life."
Pracon said he was shot in the back at close range by the gunman. "I didn't look up to see him ... but I could feel the warm air from the barrel. My left ear had an injury because of the blast when I got shot. It felt like someone hit me."
He told the BBC that he lay perfectly still and thought the gunman must have believed that he was dead.
Boy, 11, chased by gunman
Pracon, who was in hospital with what he described as a low-priority wound, said at one point during the killings, a boy aged about 11 ran up to him. "He said his dad was just shot and now the gunman is after him," he said.
National police Chief Oystein Maeland said the attack had reached "catastrophic dimensions."
Witnesses said the gunman, identified by police as a 32-year-old Norwegian, moved across the small, wooded Utoeya holiday island on Friday firing at random as young people scattered in fear.
Police detained the tall, blond suspect, named by local media as Anders Behring Breivik, and charged him for the island killing spree and the Oslo bomb blast.
Norway's national news agency, NTB, reported Saturday that witnesses told police two people were involved in the shooting on the island and that police were looking into this. The report said the second man was not disguised in police uniform.
There are thought to have been hundreds of children on the island, aged from 11 or 12 to 18 or 19.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, capturing the shock the attacks have caused in this normally quiet nation of 4.8 million, said he had been to the island every summer since 1979, saying "my youth paradise, and now it's been changed to hell," according to a simultaneous translation provided by Sky News.
Deputy Police Chief Roger Andresen would not speculate on the man's motives but told a news conference: "He describes himself as a Christian, leaning toward right-wing Christianity, on his Facebook page."
Story: Suspect in deadly Norway attacks charged
"As of now we have 84 dead at Utoeya," Andresen said. "In Oslo, with the explosion and the impact it had, we are not yet sure if that number is final. At Utoeya, the water is still being searched for more victims."
On Saturday, Stoltenberg, Norway's King Harald, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon arrived at a hotel where survivors and family members are staying to attempt to comfort them.
What's the right age to give kids a cellphone?
After meeting survivors, Stoltenberg said Norwegian officials were working with foreign intelligence agencies to see if there there was any international involvement in attacks.
Video: Reports: Oslo bombing suspect prepped attacks in May
He said part of the police inquiry into what happened "is obviously to ... investigate whether there are any international connections.''
Witnesses described how teenagers at the lakeside camp fled screaming in panic when the attack began Friday, many leaping into the water to save themselves, as the assailant began spraying them with gunfire.
'Please no, please no'
Adrian Pracon, on official at the youth camp, gave an terrifying account to BBC News, describing how people were shot dead around him and he only survived by playing dead.
Pracon, speaking from his hospital bed, said when he first began to hear shooting, he thought it must be some kind of drill. Then he saw people he worked with trying to flee the gunman.
"As they were running, they were shot from behind, falling just in front of me," Pracon said.
Image: Utoya Island, Norway
Lasse Tur / AP
An aerial view of Utoya Island, Norway, taken Thursday.
He and a group of people then ran into the water and started swimming.
"I was the last man hitting the water and therefore I didn't have time to take my shoes and clothes off," Pracon told the BBC. "I had to return because the boots and clothes were pulling me under."
Story: Norway attack: Right-wing extremism emerging?
As he returned, the gunman was on the shore and Pracon thought he was about to die. "He saw me returning, he saw I was almost at the shore and pointed the barrel at me. At that time I yelled and cried 'Please no, please no.'"
Pracon told the BBC that for some reason the gunman "spared my life."
He said he lay down on the shore among a number of dead bodies and tried to play dead.
Bing / msnbc.com
"Then there approached 10 people. He started shooting at every single person, they were crying, they were screaming, people were falling over me. These were my friends," Pracon told the BBC. "While I was playing [dead], I had to shield myself with people. By playing dead, I believed I saved my own life."
Pracon said he was shot in the back at close range by the gunman. "I didn't look up to see him ... but I could feel the warm air from the barrel. My left ear had an injury because of the blast when I got shot. It felt like someone hit me."
He told the BBC that he lay perfectly still and thought the gunman must have believed that he was dead.
Boy, 11, chased by gunman
Pracon, who was in hospital with what he described as a low-priority wound, said at one point during the killings, a boy aged about 11 ran up to him. "He said his dad was just shot and now the gunman is after him," he said.
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