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Sunday 24 July 2011

Authorities: Norway terror suspect confesses 

UPDATED: Jul 24, 2011 23:58 GMT

The man accused of killing at least 93 people in Norway has said he carried out the bombing and mass shooting, authorities said Sunday, as an ashen-faced and openly weeping King Harald V led the nation in mourning.

The suspect has not pleaded guilty, and said he acted alone with no accomplice, acting National Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim told reporters Sunday.

"There is no progress on the question of what (his) motive was," Sponheim said, but he said investigators were studying a 1,500-page manifesto that authorities believe was published online the day of the attack.

The document, apparently compiled over a period of nine years, rants against Muslims and their growing presence in Europe and calls for a European civil war to overthrow governments, end multiculturalism and execute "cultural Marxists."

The author of the document identifies himself as Anders Behring Breivik, the suspect in the Norwegian terrorist attacks. CNN could not independently verify that Breivik wrote the document, and Norwegian authorities would not confirm that the man in their custody wrote the manifesto, saying it was part of their investigation.

Police have not identified the suspect, but local television and newspaper reports say the man in custody is Breivik, 32.

Authorities allege that he set off a car bomb outside government buildings in Oslo on Friday, then ambushed an island political youth retreat in a shooting spree that left at least 86 dead. The suspect was still carrying a considerable amount of ammunition when he surrendered to authorities, Sponheim told reporters.

Police raised the official death toll from the twin attacks to 93 after a person wounded in the shootings died Sunday. That number could increase, they said, as investigators continue searching waters around the island for victims who may have drowned trying to escape the shooter. At least four people have not been accounted for from the shooting.

Authorities were also still trying to determine how many people died in Friday's bombing in downtown Oslo, where the explosion badly damaged a number of government buildings as well as the majority Labour Party office.

The investigation continued Sunday as memorial shrines with flowers and candles dotted the city's streets and Norwegians gathered at a cathedral in the capital to mourn the victims of the attacks.
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