Funerals for the victims of Norway's twin terror attacks began Friday as police continue to question Anders Behring Breivik, who confessed to the attacks but has pleaded not guilty because he believes he is in a "state of war."

On Friday a memorial service was held for the 77 victims, eight who were killed in a bomb attack in Oslo’s government district and 69 who were shot down at a political youth camp on the island of Utoya.

"We were victims of an attack on the heart of democracy," said Jens Stoltenberg, Norway's prime minister, at the memorial service Friday. "We want to be one community. Across faith, ethnicity, gender and rank."

On July 22 an explosion rocked Norway’s government headquarters in Oslo when Breivik parked a van with a half-ton bomb just a few feet away from the prime minister’s office in Norway, killing eight. Just hours after the explosion, Breivik, shot at a summer youth Labour Party camp on the Norwegian Island of Utoya near Oslo, leaving 69 people dead.

The number of dead was uncertain hours after the attacks, with police saying the death toll in Utoya alone was "at least 80" during a news conference.

According to Norwegian media reports, Breivik purchased large amounts of chemicals from a Polish company and caught attention of Norwegian authorities. However, nothing was done.

The 32-year-old self-described "modern crusader" justified what he called his "atrocious but necessary" attacks in a bizarre 1,500-page manifesto, citing what he perceives to be the Islamization of Europe. In the rambling document, Breivik expresses admiration for Al Qaeda’s "superior structural adaptation" and appears to have lifted sections from the Theodore Kaczynski’s manifesto.

Authorities may charge Breivik with crimes against humanity, which could carry a sentence of 30 years in prison.

 

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