Thursday, April 19, 2012

Breivik Thought [He] Had Slim Chance to Survive Bombing

ASSOCIATED PRESS: OSLO, Norway (AP) — Confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik thought he had only a slim chance of escaping Norway's capital alive after setting off a bomb in the government district on July 22, he told a court Thursday.

The anti-Muslim extremist said he had expected to be confronted by armed police when he left Oslo for a Labor Party youth camp on Utoya island, where he killed 69 people in a shooting massacre.

"I estimated the chances of survival as less than 5 percent," he said.

Police only cordoned off the area directly affected by the blast, and no one stopped Breivik as he drove to the island dressed in a homemade uniform and armed with a rifle and a handgun he said he had named after weapons used by Norse gods.

A total of 77 people were killed in the twin attacks.

On the fourth day of his trial, Breivik entered the Oslo district court without the clenched-fist salute he had used in previous hearings. His lawyers had advised him against it after complaints by survivors of the massacre and relatives of victims. » | Karl Ritter, Associated Press | Thursday, April 19, 2012

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