Norway: Half-naked knifeman attacks policeman in Oslo, shot dead; watch

Weeks after a man with a bow and arrow killed five Norway residents, another man has launched a stabbing attack on the streets of Kongsberg. According to a report by Sputnik News, the unidentified man was successful in injuring a police officer before being shot dead by the law enforcers. The violent incident took place in the wee hours of Tuesday in Bislett neighbourhood in the St Hanshaugen.

"The perpetrator launched a physical attack against the police, harming a police officer who had to fire shots in self-defence," police inspector Egil Jørgen Brekke told national broadcaster NRK.

According to the eyewitnesses, the man shouted “Allahu Akhbar” before wielding his knife. Footages of the attack that have surfaced online show him wearing only denim and with a knife in his hand. In the aftermath, police had issued a warning for residents not to refrain from travelling to Bislett and also report any suspicious activity in and around the affected area.

Read Full Police Statement

Police are responding to a security incident in the Bislett area of Oslo the morning of November 9. Unconfirmed reports suggest that an individual armed with a knife attacked officers near Teresa's Gate just before 09:00, before being shot; at least one police officer has been injured and the status of the alleged suspect is unconfirmed. The motive behind the apparent attack is currently unclear, but is likely to have been related to personal reasons rather than terrorism.

The alleged attacker was reportedly acting alone and there does not appear to be an ongoing threat to the public at this time. Nevertheless, security measures are likely to prompt localized disruption in Bislett while police conduct their investigations.

In October, a man named Espen Andersen Bråthen armed with a bow and arrows attacked the shoppers in Kongsberg. He killed five people before he was arrested by the police. Norway Police has said that it is treating the deadly archery attack as a ‘terrorist act’ which is also believed to be the worst since Anders Behring Breivik went on a killing spree in 2011 leaving 77 dead. The Norwegian Police Security Service said that even though it is treating the incident as a terror attack, it does not change the national threat picture. The victims of the terrorist attack were all aged between 50 and 70 and the police believe that the man acted alone.

Image: AP 

(With inputs from AP)