Goal was to kill entire Norwegian government: Breivik

OSLO - The Associated Press

REUTERS Photo

Anders Behring Breivik told an Oslo court Thursday he meant to kill the entire Norwegian government, including the prime minister, and not just the eight people who died when he bombed the government building in July.

"The aim of the attack on the government buildings ... was to kill the entire Norwegian government, including the PM ... and everyone in the building," he said after also saying he had aimed to kill everyone on the island of Utoeya where he massacred 69 people.

Breivik says initial massacre plan was much bigger

The gunman behind Norway's 2011 attacks told a court today he had planned to kill everyone on Utoeya island as part of an even bigger massacre with three car bombs and more shootings at targets across Oslo.

Anders Behring Breivik told an Oslo court he meant to kill all of the 569 people on the island in his shooting spree instead of just 69, and that he had also wanted to behead a former prime minister.

He revealed he had once spent a year playing video games, including role-playing online game "World of Warcraft", and a shooting game to prepare for what he believed would be a suicide mission.

The 33-year-old far-right extremist also testified he had given his murder weapons names from Norse mythology, calling his rifle "Gungnir" after Odin's magical spear and his Glock pistol "Mjoelner" after Thor's hammer.

Breivik is on trial for the July 22 twin attacks, when he killed eight people with a van-bomb targeting buildings housing the offices of Labour Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who was not present at the time.

He then travelled to Utoeya where, dressed as a police officer, for more than one hour he methodically shot at hundreds of people at a Labour Party youth summer camp, taking 69 lives, mostly teenagers.

On Thursday, day four of his trial, Breivik said that originally "the plan was three car bombs followed by a shooting".

In addition to blowing up the government offices, he had considered placing a bomb near the headquarters of the Labour Party, which he accuses of allowing a "Muslim invasion" with its generous immigration policies.

For the third location, he considered parliament, Norway's Aftenposten newspaper and City Hall, before deciding on the royal palace, although he insisted he had planned to warn the royal family so they would not be hurt.

He said that, had he survived all three bombings, he would have used a motorcycle to drive first to a far-left squatter community, then to the Dagsavisen daily and finally to the headquarters of the Socialist Left Party, "executing as many people as possible" in each place.

"The plan was to not surrender before the whole plan had been carried out," he told the court. "It was a suicide mission where the probability of survival was equal to zero." Because it turned out to be much more difficult than he expected to build bombs, he ended up only bombing the government offices and then heading to Utoeya, where "the goal was to kill everybody".

"I stand for Utoeya and what I did, and would still do it again," he said.

Survivors and victims' family members cried quietly, shaking their heads in disgust at some of the harshest words Breivik has uttered in the trial.

There were 569 people on the island the day of the attacks, according to police, many of them teenagers, though Breivik insisted he was "not a child murderer".

He described the Utoeya victims as "category B" traitors because they held "leading positions" within the Labour Party youth group.

He also detailed his plans to capture Gro Harlem Brundtland, an iconic former Labour prime minister who had been scheduled to be on Utoeya that day but was not, and behead her on camera before posting the video online.

It would be "a very potent psychological weapon" to decapitate her, he said, adding that he had brought plastic handcuffs, a bayonet and a knife to subdue her.

Earlier in the day, Breivik answered questions from the prosecution about the year 2006, when he isolated himself to spend an average of 16 hours a day to play video games after returning to live with his mother at the age of 27.

"Some people dream about sailing around the world, some dream of playing golf. I dreamt of playing World of Warcraft," he told the court.

He insisted the game was a very social, not very violent strategy game, which was "pure entertainment (and) has nothing to do with July 22".

Instead, he said, it was a "hobby" and he decided to play it for a full year so as not to regret leaving a dream unfulfilled after his attacks.
 "I felt it was right to do this to prepare myself mentally to sacrifice my life," he told the court.

Breivik also mentioned another game called "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare", which he said he had used as actual training for the shooting spree.

"It is a war simulator. It gives you an impression of how target systems work," he explained, adding he used it to practice "shooting other people".

Calm and more cooperative than Wednesday -- when he refused to answer questions about a network of far-right militants he claims to be part of called the Knights Templar -- Breivik smiled several times while discussing target shooting techniques.

When confronted about his smiles by prosecutor Svein Holden, he acknowledged the survivors and victims' families watching were probably reacting "in a natural way, with horror and disgust".

Breivik, charged with "acts of terror", has entered a plea of not guilty, saying his actions were "cruel but necessary".

The gunman has told the court he wants to be executed or acquitted -- even though Norway does not apply the death penalty -- and has derided the maximum 21-year prison sentence as "pathetic".

Breivik will only get prison if the court deems him sane -- something he is fighting for so as not to delegitimise his Islamophobic and anti-multicultural ideology.

His sentence could be extended indefinitely if he was still considered a threat to society.
 
f found insane he could be sentenced to closed psychiatric care, possibly for life.

Meanwhile, Oslo police said they had deported a German woman expressing support for Breivik, amid reports she claimed to be the gunman's lover.