Twin terror attacks shock Norway

Norway has been hit by twin attacks - a massive bomb blast in the capital and a shooting attack on young people at a governing Labour Party youth camp.

At least seven people were killed in the bombing, which inflicted huge damage on government buildings in Oslo.

Around 80 died at the camp, on an island outside Oslo, police say. One witness said he had seen 20 bodies.

The suspected gunman was arrested at the camp and the government has confirmed that he is a Norwegian.

Police have said that he is also linked with the bomb attack. Reports described him as tall and blond.

The Prime Minister and Justice Minister have declined to speculate on a motive behind the attack, but police are saying that they believe the car bomb and the shooting are linked and that they have a suspect in custody from Utoeya.

The ministers are confirming he is a Norwegian. During the day, after an initial focus on an al-Qaeda link, the possibility of domestic extremism increasingly came into focus.

The choice of targets - government buildings and a political youth rally - suggested a possible political agenda rather than the mass casualty approach typically employed by al-Qaeda.

Constructing a large car bomb requires a degree of sophistication and the crucial factor for the police will be establishing how many people are behind this attack, whether any are still at large and to whom they might be connected.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, whose Oslo offices were among those damaged by the bomb, described the attacks as "bloody and cowardly" in a news conference.

He said that Norway had been "shaken by evil" but that Norwegian democracy and ideals would not be destroyed.

"We are a small nation and a proud nation. No one will bomb us to silence, no one will shoot us to silence," he said.

Norwegian media reports said the shootings at the island, on the Tyrifjorden lake, were carried out by a man in police uniform.

Several people from the island camp are still missing, government officials said. Police also confirmed that undetonated explosives were found on the island.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Car wreckage

In Oslo, rubble and glass from shattered windows littered the streets and smoke from the fires drifting across the city could be seen in television footage from the devastated government quarter.

Hours after the bomb struck, officials said some people were still inside the damaged buildings, some of which were on fire.

All roads into the city centre have been closed, said national broadcaster NRK, as security officials evacuated people from the area, fearing another blast.

Government officials urged people to stay at home and avoid central areas of Oslo.

"We are issuing warnings just [to] make sure people are not in the area in case there are further explosions," he told the BBC.

"We have cordoned off large areas. There are bomb experts at the scene investigating whether there are other devices in the area."

A few hours after the explosion, a gunman opened fire at a camp in Utoeya for young members of the Labour Party.

NRK journalist Ole Torp said there were reports the gunman had been armed with a handgun, an automatic weapon and a shotgun.

"He travelled on the ferry boat from the mainland over to that little inland island posing as a police officer, saying he was there to do research in connection with the bomb blasts," he told the BBC.

Premier Stoltenberg had been due to visit the camp on Saturday. Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store, who visited the camp on Thursday, praised those who were attending.

"The country has no finer youth than young people who go for a summer camp doing politics, doing discussions, doing training, doing football, and then they experience this absolutely horrendous act of violence."

'Focus on rescue'

State Secretary Kristian Amundsen said Friday was a public holiday in Norway so government offices were not as busy as they might usually have been.

"But there are many hundreds of people in these buildings everyday," he told the BBC.

"We have to focus on the rescue operation - there are still people in the building, there are still people in the hospital."

Journalist Hanne Taalesen said of the island attack: "There are reports that youths hid in bushes"

Reuters said the Oil Ministry was among the other government buildings hit, while NRK journalist Ingunn Andersen said the headquarters of tabloid newspaper VG were also damaged.

"It's complete chaos here. The windows are blown out in all the buildings close by," she told AP.

Oistein Mjarum, head of communications for the Norwegian Red Cross, which has offices nearby, said the blast could be heard across Oslo.

"We have never had a terrorist attack like this in Norway - if that's what it is - but of course this has been a great fear for all Norwegians when they have seen what has been happening around the world."

The United States has condemned the "despicable acts of violence" in Oslo, while the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, said he was "deeply shocked" by "these acts of cowardice for which there is no justification".

Republican House Speaker quits debt talks

Republican House Speaker John Boehner has walked away from crunch debt ceiling talks at the White House with US President Barack Obama.

Obama said Boehner had rejected an "extraordinarily fair deal" that would have included $650 billion (400 billion) of cuts to entitlement programs. Obama said he had been willing to take "a lot of heat" from his party. Boehner said in a letter circulated to the Republican rank and file: "In the end, we couldn't connect."

"I have decided to end discussions with the White House and begin conversations with the leaders of the Senate in an effort to find a path forward," the letter said. The President called for new talks with congressional leaders on Saturday at 1100 (1500 GMT).

The talks were aimed at avoiding what analysts say would be a financially catastrophic US debt default on August 2.

"It is hard to understand why Speaker Boehner would walk away from this kind of deal," President Obama said at a news conference on Friday evening.

"There are a lot of Republicans who are puzzlled as to why it couldn't get done," he added.

Senior Republican aides said President Obama and congressional Republicans had been close to reaching a deal last week, but that the White House had changed its demand to call for higher taxes. White House correspondents said Obama looked visibly angry as he told reporters that until "sometime early today when I couldn't get a phone call returned, my expectation was that Boehner was going to go to his caucus" to help finalise a deal. Despite the breakdown in talks, Obama said on Friday he was confident the $14.3 trillion limit on US borrowing would be raised by the approaching deadline. But the President also countenanced for the first time the possibility of the US not meeting its financial obligations.

"If we default, then we're going to have to make adjustments," he said. Republicans have been unwilling to consider raising new tax revenues to counter the growing budget deficits. The Democrats have been opposed to cutting popular healthcare and welfare programs for pensioners and the poor.