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Friday 22 July 2011

The crisis in Oslo may not be over.

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With Oslo police confirming that "one or more" bombs caused an explosion at the government headquarters Friday afternoon, there are reports that the offices of the broadcaster TV2 have been sealed off because of a suspicious package.

Norwegian State Secretary Kristian Amundsen told BBC that there are people trapped in the buildings hit by the blast. He declined to elaborate, saying: "I can't go into details."

The Friday afternoon blast killed at least two people, while shattering windows and covering the streets in paper and debris. Police say at least 15 others were injured.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was not among the injured. A senior adviser said Stoltenberg was not in the building but was instead working at home.

Most of the windows in the 20-floor high-rise building were blown out. The bottom floor appeared to be gutted.

Nearby buildings were also damaged and evacuated. Some of the buildings housed Norway's leading newspapers and NTB. The website of the NRK network showed images of a blackened car lying on its side amid the debris.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The bombing was unusual for Norway, which has rarely been a target for terror groups. That said, last week, terror charges were filed against an Iraqi-born cleric who allegedly threatened Norwegian politicians with death if he is deported.

The indictment alleged that Mullah Krekar -- the founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam -- made various threats in interviews with news media, including the U.S. network NBC.

Norway ordered Krekar deported in 2005 after declaring him a national security threat. The decision was suspended amid worries he would face execution or torture in Iraq.

At a news conference in June 2010, Krekar said that if he were deported to Iraq and killed, Norwegian officials would meet the same fate. He singled out former asylum policy minister Erna Solberg.

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