oslo Terror

Without warning and without a clue, one of the lesser known nations in the international scene has become a severe victim of one of the most horrifying acts of terrorism. We all remember the Columbine High shootings as one of, if not the worst indiscriminate act of murder in an urban environment. Now, we have had two in one nation on the same day and initial reports indicate it may have been done by one man alone.

News reports say one bomb went off, while the police have intimated it could have been more and you wouldn’t count that out when you look at the devastation caused by a single, probably synchronised bomb explosion. In all honestly, although I’m not there personally, just the photos alone are really frightening. Norway is a peaceful country, and the people there probably don’t even know how to feel or think especially since something like this has never happened to them before.


The effects of the bomb at government offices.

This is just one part of the city centre that was rocked by the bomb explosion and quite frankly, if someone had told you the building had been hit by a missile, you’d probably have believed it. It’s so surreal and the whole thing looks as if it came out of a scene from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. With video games, it seems pretty cool to be surrounded by war torn buildings, but being there in real life, the reality would be totally mind numbing. The psychological impact would be so much more than the artificial thrills of a video game.

Not more than a few hours later, on an island where the some of the country’s youth were for a camp, a man turns up and starts shooting anybody and everybody he can. He didn’t turn up with the objective of getting a ransom or kidnapping a special person. Right now, nobody really knows why he did it. All we know is that this man took a ferry almost a mile away from the mainland to open fire on teenagers, where some were as young as thirteen.

A BBC news article online says that the man was armed with a handgun, a shotgun and an automatic weapon of some sort. In addition to that, after the incident, police even found explosives on the island. Murder in itself is already inexcusable, but the fact this man went to such lengths to kill defenceless human beings, teenagers at that is pure terrorism. Despicable, absolutely despicable.

It hurts to read that this man really went after all these people on the island. The camp goers were really helpless in that situation. Where can you run to on an island? Even those who jumped off the island and tried to swim away to safety became the man’s targets. Bodies have been found on the shore, and if I’m not mistaken, on the water as well.

So far, its publically known that 87 people have died from this incident. Seven from the bomb blast and eighty from the shooting. We still don’t even know how many more people are being hospitalised or still missing in the aftermath of this shocking act of terror. If you think that 87 is a small number, as I’ve said before, the value of one life is priceless. No amount of money can buy you back one life. So now, if you really want to calculate, tell me what’s the answer to priceless multiplied by 87?

Norwegians will arrive at the question of what happens next, in the same way that the Japanese experienced not too long ago. The country is surely shaken and in fear because of such an unexpected and devastating event. Many will look to how this man will be punished and rightfully so. Still, my heart and mind goes more towards those who have been directly affected, through the lost of loved ones and those who fear for their lives, no longer feeling safe in their own country. 

I believe that justice must be served and this man who murdered children will face the consequences of his actions. More than that however, I hope that those in Oslo and Norway as whole, will experience restoration emotionally and spiritually so that they can move on from this cowardly act to induce terror within their society. At the end of it, what happens to that terrorist hardly matters as much as the response of Norwegians to restore and preserve the well being and livelihood of their nation. God bless Norway.


Photo Credits & Sources:
RIA Novosti
CNN
BBC