A bomb detonated today by the Norwegian government building that houses the prime minister's office, killing at least one person. A Norwegian newspaper is reporting it was a car bomb. The identity of the bomber is as-yet unknown and it's currently unclear whether a shooting at a nearby summercamp is related. Spencer Ackerman says a "potential culprit is Mullah Krekar, an Iraqi Kurdish extremist and founder of the al-Qaida-aligned Ansar al-Islam who’s lived in Norway for years":
Jim Ardekis, a former Defense Department counterterrorism analyst who focused on Europe, guesses that the actual perpetrators are a “relatively isolated cell that formed on its own,” with “tangential links” to established jihadi organizations. That, at least, was the modus operandi of the cells responsible for the 2003 attack on Madrid and the 2005 attack on London. A car bomb is less sophisticated than either of those attacks — multiple suicide bombers simultaneously attacking packed mass transit — but, Ardekis says, getting at least one car bomb into a secure area is “typically more complex on the operational side than convincing a young kid that a bombing is worth his life.”
Reuters and CNN live blogs here and here, though the best updates come from the #Oslo hashtag on Twitter. Update: The Beast is compiling a great collection of tweets, photos and videos of the bomb's aftermath and the second attack – a gunman opening fire at a youth political meeting.
The Dish 