The Norwegian intelligence service (PST), reported on Thursday that the attack that took place yesterday in the city of Kongsberg, in the southwest of the country, in which five people died and two were injured, has indications of a terrorist attack.
The agency spoke in a statement a few hours after a man armed with a bow and arrow was arrested, after clashing with police in the center of the city, which is located in the homonymous region.
“The events that took place in Kongsberg so far point to a terrorist attack, but an investigation will be carried out, conducted by the police in the southwestern district, which will determine the reasons”, points out the note issued by the PST.
The plaintiff was identified only as a 37-year-old Danish man who resided in the city. In addition to a bow and arrows, he used other weapons and acted alone, indicate the first investigations into the case.
According to Kongsberg Police Commissioner Ole Bredrup Sæverud, the prisoner as a result of the action lived in the city, had converted to Islam and was on the list of people monitored by the authorities due to radicalization.
“The accused was known to the PST,” the Norwegian intelligence service said, saying it could not give further details about the suspect.
The agency also indicated that random attacks against people who are in public places are common actions among Islamic fundamentalists who commit terrorist acts in the West.
Kongsberg police said that tomorrow the man will be brought before a local court, where the prosecution will ask for his preventive detention.
The attack
Local police received an alert at 6:13 pm (local time; 1:13 pm GMT) that a man armed with a bow and arrows was walking through the center of the city. He was arrested about half an hour later, after a “confrontation,” according to the corporation.
The dead are four women and one man, with ages ranging from 50 to 70 years. The list of victims has not yet been made public by local authorities. Among the wounded, in turn, is a policeman who was off duty.
“There are many crime scenes. This person passed through a large area of downtown where criminal acts were committed,” Øyvind Aas, chief of police in the region where the crimes took place, told a news conference.
The killer, moreover, even entered a supermarket. During the persecution, the local security force asked residents of the city not to leave their homes.
The prosecutor in the case, Ann Iren Svane Mathiassen, told the Norwegian press that the author confessed to the crimes.
Acting Prime Minister Erna Solberg called the case “awful” and a “dramatic situation”. She also didn’t want to speculate on the man’s motives for the attack.
Kongsberg Municipality created a reception center for injured people and victims’ families and mobilized a crisis team to deal with the situation.