TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Norway attacker converted to Islam, suspected of radicalisation
"There were fears linked to radicalisation previously," Norwegian police official Ole Bredrup Saeverud told reporters, adding that police had followed up on him in 2020.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
An arrow is left in a wall at the scene where a man armed with bow killed several people before he was arrested by police in Kongsberg, Norway, on October 13, 2021. A man armed with a bow and arrows killed several people and wounded others in the southeastern town of Kongsberg in Norway on October 13, 2021, police said, adding they had arrested the suspect. (AFP/Terje Bendiksby)
T
he man suspected of killing five people in a bow-and-arrow attack in Norway had converted to Islam and police had been worried over signs of his radicalisation, regional police chief Ole Bredrup Saeverud told a news conference on Thursday.
The 37-year-old is in police custody after the deadly attack on Wednesday evening, in the small town of Kongsberg, home to about 25,000 people 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Oslo.
"There were fears linked to radicalisation previously," Norwegian police official Ole Bredrup Saeverud told reporters, adding that police had followed up on him in 2020.
"We haven't had any reports about him in 2021, but earlier," he said, quoted by AFP.
Responding to questions Saeverud explained that the man was a "convert to Islam."
"We are investigating, among other things, whether this was a terrorist attack," he told reporters.
Saeverud also said investigations were still ongoing to confirm that the man was acting alone.
"We have no information indicating anything else, but we are continuing investigations to be completely sure," he said.
Police had already said the suspect, who was arrested shortly after the incident at around 6.45 p.m. local time (1645 GMT) on Wednesday, was a resident of Kongsberg.
Five people, four women and one man, died and two others were injured in the attack, which shocked the usually peaceful Scandinavian kingdom.
The victims were between 50 and 70 years old, Saeverud said.
The attack was the deadliest in the country since far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in 2011.
Since then, Norway has seen one other far-right attack, carried out by a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi who opened fire into a mosque.
