GUY RAZ, host: It was a solemn Sunday in Norway today, a day devoted to remembering the 93 victims of the terror attacks there this past week. Police say 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik has now taken responsibility for bombing a government building and for shooting dozens of people, mostly teenagers, at a summer camp on a nearby island.
Teri Schultz takes a look at how the tragedy is affecting this normally tranquil nation.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in foreign language)
TERI SCHULTZ: The mound of flowers outside Oslo Cathedral is becoming a mountain. Tears flowed inside the church, the center point of many memorials across the nation to those who fell victim to twin terror attacks on Friday. Sobs could be heard throughout the ceremony. In the front pew, King Harald and Queen Sonja were crying along with some of the young survivors of the island massacre.
JENS STOLTENBERG: (Foreign language spoken)
SCHULTZ: Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg gave an emotional address urging his fellow Norwegians to continue to trust each other after such terrible acts perpetrated by one of their own, and he said to stay strong, though he himself struggled to maintain composure as he remembered by name some of the people he knew who had been killed.
STOLTENBERG: (Foreign language spoken)
SCHULTZ: Thirty-year-old Linda Haugland(ph) says given the magnitude of the disaster, she wasn't surprised the king shed tears.
LINDA HAUGLAND: I've been crying for two days. So I've been watching the news for two days straight, and I don't know what to say. It's awful.
SCHULTZ: Just a couple of blocks away, in the rubble of government buildings damaged by the bombing, recovery workers are still searching for possible victims. Police say several people are still unaccounted for, both there and off the island of Utoya, and mini-submarines are being used in the waters where campers tried to get away from the shooter's bullets. Back in Oslo, Stian Foss Johannsen(ph) sits on steps nearby the blast site looking dazed.
STIAN FOSS JOHANNSEN: Oh, it's really strange. We didn't think it would happen here. We thought that at most, it was some Muslim thing going on, but when it was a Norwegian guy...
SCHULTZ: Meanwhile, police say that Norwegian guy, Anders Behring Breivik, has accepted responsibility for the acts, but he maintains they were not criminal. Authorities will not speak about a so-called hate manifesto and plan of attack found on the Internet and attributed to Breivik. A raid this morning in eastern Oslo, in which several people were detained, gave rise to suspicions that co-conspirators had been found, but all were cleared and released. So far, there are no other suspects, says acting police chief Sveinung Sponheim.
SVEINUNG SPONHEIM: He tells us he is acting alone, but we are not sure if we can believe everything he's telling us. We have to confirm that through other investigation methods.
SCHULTZ: Breivik goes to court tomorrow, where he'll get a chance to explain his actions and a judge will decide whether he's dangerous enough to society that he should remain jailed while his case proceeds. He's been charged with two counts of murder as acts of terrorism; the maximum total sentence, 21 years. For NPR News, I'm Teri Schultz in Oslo. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.