People in Norway are in shock today after a man dressed as a police officer is suspected of shooting and killing at least 85 at a summer youth camp Friday, just hours after setting off an explosion in nearby Oslo that killed seven.
Officials initially reported that at least 10 people were killed at the youth camp on the island of Utoya but later increased the death toll after more bodies were found, according to the Associated Press.
Officials said that the death toll could still rise.
Norwegian police have arrested a Norwegian man for the attacks.
Police would not confirm the identity of the suspect but said they have charged him with acts of terrorism.
The man is believed to be responsible for both attacks.
TV2, Norway's largest broadcaster, was among several local media outlets that identified the suspect as Anders Behring Breivik, 32.
Breivik is described as a member of "right-wing extremist groups in eastern Norway," and a farmer.
The killer, dressed as a policeman, "would tell people to come over: 'It's OK, you're safe, we're coming to help you.' And then I saw about 20 people come toward him and he shot them at close range," he said.
Kursetgjerde said he ran and hid between cliffs, then swam out into the lake and nearly drowned. "Someone (in a boat) rescued me. They saved my life."
"This lasted for hours," Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a news conference, describing the killings on the island northwest of Oslo where about 600 young people had gathered.
A 32-year-old Norwegian was arrested after 85 people died in the island shootings, on top of the seven killed in the earlier bomb blast.
"I saw he had a handgun," Thorbjoern Vereive, 22, told Reuters. "Some people said he also had something that looked like a rifle."
"When I swam out into the water he shot all my friends. He shot them when they were running away. I hid in a cave and had to lie in the water. There were people hiding in the cave and he tried to lure people out by saying, 'It's safe, come out.'"
"He picked them out, one by one. He was mostly silent. It looked like it didn't bother him."
"He tried to shoot me and I saw the bullet pass right next to me. I thought I was going to die."
Another youth, Dana Barzingi, described the massacre to state broadcaster NRK. "It was a bloodbath. There was nowhere to flee, only the water, and when people tried to swim away he just shot them."
"He kept coming," said Barzingi. "He went around and around pretending to be a rescue worker and said people should come to get help. Then he shot them."
NRK showed blurred pictures taken from a helicopter of a man, apparently in police uniform, standing with his arm outstretched amid numerous victims, some prone on the rocky shore, others floating in the water.
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