Norway gunman fires on youth political retreat

OSLO, Norway -- A gunman who opened fire on an island teeming with young people kept shooting for 90 minutes before surrendering to a SWAT team, which arrived 40 minutes after they were called, police said Saturday.

Survivors of the shooting spree have described hiding and fleeing into the water to escape the gunman, but a police briefing Saturday detailed for the first time how long the terror lasted -- and how long victims waited for help.

When the SWAT team did arrive, the gunman, who was carrying a pistol and an automatic weapon, surrendered, police chief Sveinung Sponheim said.

"There were problems with transport to Utoya," where the youth-wing of Norway's left-leaning Labor Party was holding a retreat, Sponheim said. "It was difficult to get a hold of boats."

At least 85 people were killed on the island, but police said four or five people remain missing.

Divers have been searching the surrounding waters, and Sponheim said the missing may have drowned. Police earlier said there was an unexploded device on the island, but it later turned out to be fake.

The attack followed a car bomb outside a government building in Oslo, where another seven people were killed. Police are still digging through rubble there, and Sponheim said there are still body parts in the building.

Police have not identified the suspect, but Norwegian national broadcaster NRK say he is Anders Behring Breivik. They have said only that they have charged a 32-year-old under Norway's terror law. He will be arraigned Monday when a court decides whether police can continue to hold him as the investigation continues.

Authorities have not given a motive for the attacks, but both were in areas connected to the Labor Party, which leads a coalition government.

Suspicious activities

Even police confessed to not knowing much about the suspect, but details trickled out about him all day: He had ties to a right-leaning political party, he posted on Christian fundamentalist websites, and he rented a farm where he amassed six tons of fertilizer.

Police said the suspect is talking to them and has admitted to firing weapons on the island.

It was not clear if he had confessed to anything else he is accused of. Police said he retained a lawyer, but the attorney did not want to be identified.

Earlier in the day, a farm supply store said it had alerted police that he bought six tons of fertilizer, which is highly explosive and can be used in homemade bombs.