Security alert issued after suspicious package found

OSLO - Jittery Norwegians tried to restore some normality on Wednesday after mass killings by a far-right zealot traumatized the nation, but a security alert forced the evacuation of Oslo station, keeping nerves on edge.

Norway's domestic intelligence chief said she believed Anders Behring Breivik had acted alone in killing 76 people in a bomb attack and shooting spree, and contested an assertion by the killer's lawyer that his client was probably insane.

Oslo's central station was evacuated after a suspicious suitcase was found on a bus, and all train and bus services were halted. Police cars, fire trucks and ambulances ringed the station, but police said later the suitcase was harmless.

"Nothing was found that was of interest to the police," Chief Superintendent Tore Barstad told reporters, adding that the suitcase search had no known link with Friday's attacks.

In another false alarm, police retracted a search alert for a man who identified with Breivik, saying in fact they wanted to detain a disturbed man with no link to the killer.

Symbolic return

A cabinet minister made a symbolic return to her office in Oslo's government district where Breivik detonated a powerful home-made bomb that killed eight people on Friday.

The bomb blew a hole in Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's office. For now, he will work from the defense ministry in another area of Oslo, and cabinet meetings will be held in a mediaeval fort near the waterfront. It is not clear whether the 17-story prime ministry building will be rebuilt or torn down.

"I am glad to be back in my office ... to be able to resume the more normal work functions," Administration and Church Minister Rigmor Aaserud told reporters.

Her office, in a government complex, was little damaged. In Stoltenberg's building, which took the brunt of the car bomb blast, curtains flapped from a host of broken windows.

Reuters

(China Daily 07/28/2011 page12)