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Timeline: Recounting Norway's three-hour nightmare

By the CNN Wire Staff
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Norway: A day of grief
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • An explosion rocked government offices in central Oslo on Friday afternoon
  • Police say the suspect in that blast then headed 20 miles to Utoya Island
  • There he gunned down at least 86 people, in addition to 7 killed by the bomb
  • The 32-year-old man didn't put up a fight when he was arrested, police say

Oslo, Norway (CNN) -- Norway's nightmare lasted just over three hours, all in the middle of a summer afternoon.

Authorities are still trying to piece together exactly what happened last Friday -- and, perhaps as significantly, why. But they have offered a timeline as to how the bloodshed began in central Oslo and then continued 20 miles away, at a political youth camp on Utoya island.

While police have not officially named him, they have arrested a man who has been identified in local and national media reports as Anders Behring Breivik, 32. A manifesto, purportedly written by a man of that name and posted online the day of the attacks, signals his intent to be part of a "European civil war" and his distaste for Norway's leadership.

Here is a chronological recap of last week's violence that left at least 93 people dead across the two sites, compiled from statements and interviews of police, witnesses and government officials:

3:20 p.m.: An fertilizer bomb explodes outside government offices in central Oslo, near the Norwegian parliament and the offices of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. The government's leader is not present at the time of the blast. At least seven people are killed.

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Sometime thereafter, the suspect in the bombing takes a 3/4-mile ferry ride on Tyrifjorden -- Norway's fifth-largest lake -- to Utoya island. The 26-acre island, about 20 miles from central Oslo, is hosting a youth camp run by the Labour Party.

About 700 teens and young adults are attending the camp, and are gathered in a large meeting room where camp organizers share information about the bombing in Oslo. A man dressed in an apparent police uniform asks to address the group, but instead opens fire.

The suspect walks around the camp shooting people. Some try to hide or plunge into the water, while others are picked up by boaters passing by and brought to safety. But at least 86 are killed in the attack, according to authorities.

5:27 p.m.: A local police station, situated near Utoya, is alerted.

5:30 p.m.: Authorities in Oslo, home to the national police headquarters, become aware of the youth camp shooting for the first time.

5:38 p.m.: Local police near Utoya request assistance from other law enforcement agents in the Norwegian capital.

5:52 p.m.: Several local police arrive on the lakefront near Utoya.

6:03 p.m.: The first police depart for the island in a boat.

6:09 p.m.: Members of an elite Norwegian police unit arrive on the shore.

6:25 p.m.: These specially trained forces land on the island.

6:27 p.m.: The gunman does not put up a fight as he is taken into custody on the island by the police unit.