Mosque attack man in court

A SUSPECTED gunman accused of an attempted terrorist attack on an Oslo mosque and of separately killing his teenage stepsister appeared in court yesterday for a hearing, but his defence lawyer said he “will use his right not to explain himself for now”.

Unni Fries declined to comment on Norwegian media reports that the suspect was inspired by shootings in New Zealand in March, where a gunman killed 51 people, and shootings on August 3 in El Paso, Texas, which left at least 22 dead.

Her client was arrested on Saturday after he entered the Al-Noor Islamic Centre in Baerum, an Oslo suburb.

Police said several shots were fired, but did not specify what type of weapon was used. One person was slightly injured before people inside the mosque held the suspect until police arrived on the scene.

Police then raided the suspect’s house and found the body of his 17-year-old stepsister.

The suspect smiled in court yesterday, displaying two black eyes and bruises on his face. Police had said that he was prepared to cause deaths and more injuries but didn’t succeed because people inside the mosque had helped to neutralise him.

The suspect has not been identified by officials but Norwegian media reported he was a 21-yearold Norwegian man named Philip Manshaus. Dagbladet, one of Norway’s largest newspapers, reported that on the day of the attack, Manshaus wrote online he had been “chosen” by “Saint (Brenton) Tarrant”, the Christchurch gunman. The name of the Oslo mosque is similar to the one in the New Zealand attacks.

Prosecutors want him held on terror charges for four weeks.

Prime Minister Erna Solberg called the attempted attack a “direct attack on Norwegian Muslims”.

The suspect’s thwarted plans recall those of Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian right-wing extremist who killed 77 people in 2011. Breivik is serving a 21-year prison sentence for carrying out a terror attack.