Norway Calls Off Search For Additional Victims

UPDATE: Norwegian authorities on Thursday called off the search for additional victims of the Utoeya shooting spree that killed 68 people.

"I can confirm that the search around Utoeya has now ended," a police spokesman told reporters at an Oslo news conference, adding: "The number of missing people is very low."

Meanwhile, police plan to interview Anders Breivik for a second time on Friday after receiving what they said was "a lot" of new information about last Friday's twin terror attacks, the BBC reports.

UPDATE Wednesday at 10 a.m.: Norwegian investigators have found no evidence linking Anders Breivik with any far-right extremists in the country or elsewhere, Norway's domestic intelligence chief told the BBC on Wednesday.

"We don't have indications that he has been part of a broader movement or that he has been in connection with other cells or that there are other cells," said Janne Kristiansen, the head the Norwegian Police Security Service.

At a court hearing earlier this week, Breivik suggested that he had collaborated with two terror cells to orchestrate Friday's bombing and shooting spree.

While those claims now appear false, Kristiansen said that police were continuing to investigate nonetheless. "I don't think there is any limits to the evil in this person's head," she said. "We can't take any chance with this person."

Kristiansen also pushed back against comments that Breivik's defense lawyer made Tuesday suggesting that his client was insane. The police chief said that Breivik was calculating and someone who sought the limelight, according to the BBC.

UPDATE Tuesday at 10:04 a.m.: Anders Breivik's lawyer said Tuesday that his client appears to be insane. However, the lawyer quickly added that it is too early to say if Breivik would plead insanity in court.

"This whole case indicated that he is insane," defense attorney Geir Lippestad told reporters Tuesday, the BBC reports.

Lippestad added that Breivik "believes that he is in a war and in a war you can do things like that."

UPDATE Tuesday at 9:40 a.m.: Norwegian officials have begun releasing the names of the dead. Among those that were killed in the shooting spree were Trond Berntsen, the stepbrother of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Sky News reports.

The youngest casualty is believed to be 14-year-old Johannes Buo, who was attending the youth camp and has not yet been seen since the shooting.

UPDATE Monday at 1:40 p.m.: Some potentially embarrassing news for Norwegian authorities: Anders Breivik had been on a government watch list since March, newspaper VG reports (via Sky News).

The Norwegian newspaper claims that authorities placed Breivik on the list after he illegally purchased large amounts of chemicals online from a Polish retailer.

UPDATE at 12:55 p.m.: Anders Breivik's father said Monday that he wished his son would have killed himself rather that carry out the twin terror acts that rocked Norway on Friday.

"I think that ultimately he should have taken his own life rather than kill so many people," Jens Breivik said of his long-estranged son, the BBC reports.

UPDATE at 12:33 p.m.: Authorities have not yet been able to determine with certainty that Anders Breivik acted alone.

"We cannot completely, and I stress completely, rule out that others were involved in what happened," prosecutor Christian Hatlo said Monday, the BBC reports.

After initially claiming to have worked alone, Breivik suggested Monday that he collaborated with two terror cells to orchestrate Friday's bombing and shooting spree.

UPDATE at 11:15 a.m.: The official death toll from Friday's twin terror attacks has fallen from 93 to 76.

Police revised the number of confirmed dead from Friday's shooting to 68 from 86, Reuters reports. Meanwhile, officials say the number of casualties from the bombing in Oslo has increased from seven to eight, the BBC reports.

UPDATE Monday at 10:20 a.m.: Anders Breivik has admitted he was behind the Friday attack that killed at least 93, but he nonetheless pleaded not guilty Monday, arguing that his actions were aimed at saving Norway and western Europe from "cultural Marxism" and a “Muslim takeover,” according to court officials.

A Norwegian judged ordered that Breivik be held in custody for at least the next eight weeks on terrorism charges while detectives continue their investigation. He will be held in near total isolation for the next four weeks, with no contact with visitors or access to newspapers or letters, the BBC reports.

Monday’s preliminary hearing was closed to the public and the press, although officials recounted much of the proceedings at a press conference afterward. Officials say that during the 35-minute hearing, Breivik accused the ruling Labor Party of “mass import” of Muslims and said that his actions were aimed at inducing “the greatest possible loss” to the party.

Breivik also claimed that there were at least two more cells within his organization, although officials declined to elaborate on that claim.

ORIGINAL POST Sunday at 12:12 p.m.: His targets: Marxists, Muslims, “suicidal humanists,” and “global capitalists.” His goal: “the European civil war: 1999-2083.” His view of himself: a Knight’s Templar, a crusading Christian warrior defending monoculture, patriarchy, and “European isolationism.”

Anders Behring Breivik, who confessed to Friday’s bombing and shooting massacre in Norway that have left 93 dead, posted these and many more messages online in a video and giant 1,500-page manifesto, which police are now reading in detail, according to the Associated Press.

“Onward, Christian soldiers!” Reads a message in the video. “Because in only 14 years, by 2025, a majority of our Western European capitals will be Muslim cities … unless we manage to defeat the ruling Multiculturalist Alliance!”

The manifesto, posted by the 32-year-old the day of the attacks, also promised revenge on “indigenous Europeans” who he said were betraying their heritage. While he confessed to the attacks, Breivik denied criminal responsibility, according to police. In the video posted online, photos of the suspect in scuba gear carrying an assault rifle and wearing a military uniform are set next to photos of medieval crusading knights battling Muslims, and a political cartoon showing Uncle Sam pointing a gun in his mouth labeled “liberals” and “Muslims.”

A lawyer for Breivik, Geir Lippestad, told the AP that his client wished to have an open court hearing “because he wants to explain himself.”

Leaders and residents are still reeling in the country, home of the Nobel Peace Prize, where search crews are still looking for the missing. Body parts reportedly remain in the government building where a giant bomb exploded just hours before a gunman opened fire on nearby island Utoya, at a retreat for youth members of the country’s liberal Labor Party.

The mixture of fertilizer and fuel used to create the bomb apparently bears resemblance to that used in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. As Norway’s royal couple attended a packed mourning service at Oslo Cathedral, authorities continued to explore witness accounts that there was a second shooter at Utoya, and mosques in Norway and elsewhere upped security in anticipation of possible further attacks.

Speaking to Norway’s public broadcaster, the Breivik’s lawyer said:

“He wanted a change in society and, from his perspective, he needed to force through a revolution. He wished to attack society and the structure of society.”

Watch Brevik's 12-minute manifesto video: