Terrorist gunman in Oslo was refugee with long record of violence

‘We were discussing if we should just skip it all? But then he wins. So we’re gonna have a great time’

NORWAY raised its security threat to the highest level after a terror attack by a refugee with a history of violence left two dead outside a gay bar in Oslo.

Zaniar Matapour, 42, was arrested at the scene after he fired on crowds in the capital’s nightlife district in the early hours of yesterday, killing a man in his 50s, another in his 60s and injuring 21.

The country’s main Pride parade yesterday was then cancelled on the advice of the police. Authorities said they had been aware of Matapour, who had Norwegian citizenship, since 2015 and were treating the shooting as an “extreme Islamist terror act”.

“We had concerns he had been radicalised and become part of an extremist Islamist network in Norway,” said Robert Berg, acting chief of the Norwegian security service (PST).

Mr Berg did not name the network, but said it “sympathised with IS”. Matapour was interviewed in May over statements he had made about “violations of Islam”, but had not been considered an active threat.

The suspect came to Norway as a child from Iran, and has a history of violence. Christian Hatlo from Oslo police detailed a string of convictions dating back to 1999, when he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for his involvement in a stabbing at a nightclub.

Matapour was acquitted on appeal, but was resentenced for aggravated street violence and imprisoned for 30 days. Since then, he has been detained for offences from drug possession to carrying a knife.

Yesterday, his weapon was a gun. Bjørn Inge Bergestuen, who helps run music events at nightclub Per On The Corner, was sitting outside when bullets smashed the window.

“We thought it was firecrackers,” he said. “But then we saw the glass on the outside terrace shatter into a thousand pieces, and realised this was serious. Most of us threw ourselves on the ground.” Mr Bergestuen saw a man he had been sitting next to lying on the ground, no longer moving.

“Some were trying to revive him, without success,” he said. “The two that were killed were regulars, so this is taking a heavy toll on the staff.” On top of the two men killed, 10 of those injured were in a serious condition in hospital.

At one unofficial Pride party in a courtyard in central Oslo, Marius Abrahamsen, 27, was getting his face painted.

He had been at Per the night before the shooting and said: “We will continue to celebrate. Even though the official pride parade was cancelled.

“We were discussing if we should just skip it all. But then he wins. So we’re gonna have a great time anyway.”