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Norway: Police reveal victims of bow and arrow attack were killed by stabbings

WION Web Team
Oslo, NorwayUpdated: Oct 20, 2021, 02:08 PM IST
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A police officer investigates at the Extra grocery store, where a man killed five people in the city Kongsberg, Norway  Photograph:(Reuters)

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The shocking revelation comes after five people were killed last week in a Norwegian town called Kongsberg, which is about 70km away from the capital Oslo

Norway's police have revealed that the deaths in the bow and arrow attack actually came from stab wounds.

The shocking revelation comes after five people were killed last week in a Norwegian town called Kongsberg, that is about 70km away from the capital Oslo. These include a middle-aged man and four women.

According to police inspector Per Thomas Omholt, Everything points to the victims being selected at random. Some were killed inside their own homes, others out in public.''

"As far as motive is concerned, the illness remains the main hypothesis. And as far as conversion to Islam is concerned, this hypothesis is weakened," Omholt added.

Suspect Espen Anderson Brathen had used a ''sharp object'' during the attack. The 37-year-old had publically announced that he had converted to Islam.

He has been living in Kongsberg, which is home to approximately 25,000 people, for many years.

Prime Minister Erna Solberg said ''I understand that many people are afraid, but it's important to emphasise that the police are now in control.''

Anderson had been on the radar of the Norwegian security services PST due to fears of radicalisation.

The agency, which is responsible for handling counter-terrorism, said they had received warnings in 2015 and 2018 about Anderson being a suspect that could commit a smale attack.

Norway recorded the worst death toll in the bow and arrow attack in the country since 2011 when Anders Behring Breivik, a far-right extremist had gone on a killing spree at a youth summer camp after planting a bomb at the prime minister's office.