Norway calls bow-and-arrow attack an 'act of terror', suspect arrested

The Norwegian security service on Thursday called an “act of terror” the murder of five persons in a bow-and-arrow attack. The suspect is a 37-year-old Danish Muslim convert and was already on their radar over fears he had been radicalised.

“The events in Kongsberg currently appear to be an act of terror, but the investigation… will determine in closer detail what the acts were motivated by,” Norway’s intelligence service PST said in a statement, as reported by AFP.

Four women and a man died and two others were injured on Wednesday in the town of Kongsberg in Norway’s deadliest attack in a decade.

In 2011, far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik had killed 77 people. In another far-right attack, a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi had opened fire in a mosque.

“We’re talking about a convert to Islam,” police official Ole Bredrup Saeverud told the media, adding: “There were fears linked to radicalisation previously.”

According to Saeverud, the suspect had confessed to the facts of the matter during questioning. “We are investigating among other things to determine whether this was an act of terror,” Saeverud said.

“We haven’t had any reports about him (the suspect) in 2021, but earlier. We’re relatively sure that he acted alone,” the officer was quoted as saying.

The suspect was due to appear before a judge on Friday for a custody hearing. He was undergoing a psychiatric examination on Thursday, the prosecutor said.

Police were informed of the attack at 6.13 pm (1613 GMT) and the suspect was arrested at 6.47 pm. He fired arrows at the police, who responded with warning shots, Saeverud said, as reported by AFP.

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