Oslo bombing, shooting (big photo gallery, news updates)

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(Photos: scenes from a powerful explosion that rocked central Oslo July 22, 2011. A huge explosion damaged government buildings in central Oslo on Friday including Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's office. The blast blew out most windows on the 17-story building, as well as nearby ministries including the oil ministry, which was on fire. REUTERS/Berit Roald/Scanpix)

Above and following, photos from the bombing that took place in Oslo earlier today. Two apparent terrorist attacks struck the Norwegian capital: a car bombing at government offices in the city's center, and a shooting at an island youth camp of Norway's labor party. At least 16 are confirmed dead at the time of this blog post.

Immediate theories of who was responsible varied, and ranged from domestic right-wing extremists to possible external groups retaliating for Dagbladet's publication in 2010 of a comic that portrayed the Muslim Prophet Muhammad as a pig writing the Qur'an. But the BBC reports:

Police said the suspected gunman had been arrested, and later that he was also linked with the bomb attack. Reports described him as tall and blond.

The man arrested for the shootings is Norwegian, and Norwegian authorities have since stated that they do not currently consider this an act of foreign terrorism.

More: Washington Post, ABC News, New York Times, and a Telegraph report on a related Wikileaks cable: a US State Department memo portrays the country as "over its head," and "unable to keep up" with terror risks.

Here's an excellent Twitter list of journalists covering the attacks, assembled by the Washington Post.

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(all images in this post: REUTERS/Scanpix)