Assailant with bow and arrows kills 5 people in Norway
Copenhagen (Denmark), Oct 14: A man armed with a bow fired arrows at shoppers in a small Norwegian town Wednesday, killing five people before he was arrested, authorities said.
The police chief in the community of Kongsberg, near the capital of Oslo, said there was a confrontation between officers and the assailant, but he did not elaborate. Two other people were wounded and hospitalized in intensive care, including an officer who was off duty and inside the shop where the attack took place, police said.
The man who carried out the act has been arrested by the police, and there is no active search for more people. Based on the information we have, there is one person behind this, Police Chief Oeyving Aas said.
Acting Prime Minister Erna Solberg described the attack as gruesome and said it was too early to speculate on a motive. The prime minister-designate, Jonas Gahr Stoere, who is expected to take office Thursday, called the assault a cruel and brutal act in comments to Norwegian news agency NTB.
Police were alerted to the attack around 6:15 p.m. and arrested the suspect about 30 minutes later. The community of some 26,000 inhabitants is about 66 kilometers (41 miles) southwest of Oslo.
According to police, the suspect walked around downtown Kongsberg shooting arrows. Aas declined to comment on reports that the man used a crossbow, saying only there were several crime scenes.
The man has not been questioned yet, Aas said.
Norway's domestic security agency PST was informed of the assault.
Town officials invited people who were affected by the attack and their relatives to gather for support at a local hotel.
Mass killings are rare in Norway. The country's worst peacetime slaughter was on July 22, 2011, when right-wing extremist Anders Breivik set off a bomb in the capital of Oslo, killing eight people. Then he headed to tiny Utoya Island, where he stalked the mostly teen members of the Labor Party's youth wing and killed another 69 victims.
Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in prison, the maximum under Norwegian law, but his term can be extended as long as he's considered a danger to society.
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Ex-minister Shrawon Kumar appointed JD(U) legislative party leader in Bihar
Patna (PTI): Former Bihar minister Shrawon Kumar has been made the JD(U)'s legislative party leader, a notification issued by the state assembly secretariat said on Tuesday.
The development comes a day after the party's legislators had "authorised" national president Nitish Kumar to take a decision in the matter.
The JD(U) supremo had chaired a meeting of party MLAs and MLCs at 1, Anney Marg, the official residence of the Chief Minister of Bihar, which he is likely to vacate soon in view of having relinquished the top post.
Shrawon Kumar, a confidant of the JD(U) chief, is a seventh-term MLA from Nalanda constituency, which falls in the eponymous district to which the former CM also belongs.
The 68-year-old leader, who is a Kurmi, a powerful OBC group to which Nitish Kumar also belongs, has held portfolios like rural development, social welfare and transport in governments headed by his mentor, who has now moved to the Rajya Sabha.
Meanwhile, the JD(U) president's son Nishant congratulated Shrawon Kumar upon being appointed as the legislative party leader.
"This is great. I extend him my best wishes," he told reporters.
BJP leader Samrat Choudhary was sworn in as the 24th chief minister of Bihar on April 15, marking the first instance of a member of the saffron party assuming the top post in the state.
