Norway’s prime minister vowed today that the response to the murders that have rocked his country will be “more democracy”.
Jens Stoltenberg said that Norwegians will defend themselves by showing they are not afraid of violence.
The murderous attack in the normally placid country has left Norwegians appalled and shaky, but determined to move forward. Some government workers were planning to return to work in their offices in the buildings where the bomb blasts blew out most windows.
At least 76 were killed in the attack on government buildings in Oslo and a rampage on an island youth camp.
Mr Stoltenberg also announced the setting up of an independent commission to review events surrounding the bombing and shootings last Friday.
"It's important to clarify all aspects of the attacks to learn lessons from what has occurred," he said. "This is a national tragedy, an attack on the nation."
Questions have been raised over the police response and the country's readiness to prevent attacks.
Standing in the garden of his official residence, Mr Stoltenberg, flanked by leading politicians from all parties in the Norwegian parliament, said the state will subsidise expenses connected to funerals and memorial services for those killed.
Meanwhile, the leader of Norway’s Delta Force defended the special operations team, saying the breakdown of a boat did not cause a significant delay in efforts to reach the island where Anders Behring Breivik’s shooting rampage killed 68 people.
Police have come under close scrutiny over how long it took them to reach the island after first reports of shots being fired at the island youth camp Friday. Although the island is only about 40km from the Norwegian capital, police needed 90 minutes to get to the scene.
A media helicopter was already hovering over the island when police arrived.
Police were already grappling with the wide damage inflicted by a bomb in the government quarter that Breivik set off. When word of the shooting came, police drove rather than take a helicopter because the crew of the sole chopper available to them was on holiday. Then the first boat they tried to take to the lake island broke down.
Anders Snortheimsmoen said the team immediately jumped into another, better boat. He said his team arrived at the harbour at the same time as local police and the boat mishap caused no delay.
At the same news conference, Norway’s minister for justice Knut Storberget praised the team, saying it helped “limit the tragedy” on Utoeya island and the bombing in the city centre.
Some reports suggest that police knew Breivik’s identity even before they reached the island, tracing him through a rental car company from which he rented the van in which the bomb was planted.
Dag Andre Johansen, Scandinavian head of Avis car rental company, said that Breivik had rented two vehicles, including a Volkswagen Crafter van. He said police contacted the company after the bombing and got Breivik’s identity confirmed. But he declined to say whether that contact came before Breivik was arrested on the island.
Earlier today parts of Oslo’s central station were evacuated as police investigated an abandoned suitcase, a spokesman for the Norwegian Railway Authority said.
Olav Nordli said the luggage was found in the area where buses depart for Oslo’s airport.
Police sealed off the area and were examining the abandoned case.
Meanwhile police also detonated explosives discovered at Breivik’s farm about 150km north of Oslo. Breivik said in his manifesto that he had rented the farm and created a fake business there as cover for ordering six metric tons of fertiliser — an integral component of the Oslo bomb.
AP