Oslo police detonate 'bomb-like device', suspect in custody

By Ole Petter Skonnord

 

Police have block a area in central Oslo and arrested a man after the discovery of "bomb-like device", in Oslo, Norway April 8, 2017. Fredrik Varfjell/NTB Scanpix via REUTERS

 

OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian police set off a controlled explosion of a "bomb-like device" found in central Oslo on Saturday, a suspect is being held in custody, and the security police has overtaken the conduct of the investigation, authorities said.

 

A Reuters reporter described a loud bang shortly after the arrival of Oslo's bomb squad.

 

"The noise from the blast was louder than our explosives themselves would cause," a police spokesman said, while adding that further investigation would be conducted at the scene.

 

The device had appeared to be capable of causing only a limited amount of damage, the police said earlier.

 

Police declined to give information about the suspect.

 

Norway's police security service, PST, said in a tweet it had taken over the investigation from local police.

 

Oslo's Groenland area, a multi-ethnic neighbourhood that is home to popular bars and restaurants as well as several mosques, is also where the city's main police station is located, less than a kilometre away from where the device was found.

 

In neighbouring Sweden, a truck on Friday ploughed into crowds in Stockholm, killing four people and wounding 15 in what police said was an apparent terror attack.

 

In 2011, right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik set off a car bomb in Oslo that killed eight people and destroyed Norway's government headquarters, before going on a shooting rampage that killed 69 people at nearby Utoeya island.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-04-09

Religion of Peace just give and give ...

Big difference in the way this is reported compared with here, with the cops giving very little away.

In Thailand we would have his name, age, origin, see him in a press conference surrounded by a couple of dozen preening cops and a re-enactment would be starting soon.

We would also have been told details of the polices unfounded speculation on what he had been planning to do and why.

May well be why cops overseas end up arresting more of those involved and here they all get away.

New information coming now. 17 years old Russian national, who came to Norway as asylum seeker in 2010.