Norway's mass killer caught on CCTV just before bomb blast

Anders Breivik in police gear seen on CCTV just before the blast (EPA)

A chilling cctv shot of mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik clad in black police combat gear, a helmet and brandishing a pistol as he walked away from planting bombs in Norway's capital Olso last July, was published by the country's ABC Nyheter newspaper yesterday.

The paper said it had gained exclusive access to the photo, which was taken from a surveillance video in Oslo's government quarter. It claimed the image appeared on security officers' screens six minutes before Breivik's bombs exploded in the district, killing eight people and injuring dozens more.

ABC Nyheter also claimed the photograph demonstrated clearly that Norway's official surveillance procedures in the Olso government quarter were, as it described, a "total failure". "Why did nobody sound the alarm?" the paper asked.

Neither police nor government security officials were able to provide an immediate response to the newspaper's allegations. Breivik, drove a white van filled with explosives into the centre of the government district on July 22. The CCTV photograph shows him walking away from the van with a pistol in his hand.

Minutes later he got into a car and drove to a Norwegian Labour Party youth camp on the holiday island of Utoya, 40 minutes north of the capital. Still wearing his police uniform, Breivik massacred 69 mostly young party members with an array of high powered automatic weapons. Many were shot dead as they tried to swim away from the island.

The mass murder has been described as the worst act of terrorism in Norway since the Second World War. Breivik, a right-wing extremist who claimed to have launched a crusade against Islam, said he had singled out the Labour party because it encouraged Muslim "world domination".

Police assume that he planted the Oslo bombs to distract the security services so that he could carry out his island massacre unhindered. The police response to the island mass shooting was delayed, in part because they had no access to a helicopter and their boat was faulty.

Breivik is scheduled to appear in closed court next week to enable judges to rule on whether he should remain in solitary confinement. His trial is not expected until next year. Breivik has confessed to carrying out the murders and if convicted he would face a maximum sentence of 21 years imprisonment. However, legal experts say judges would be empowered to keep him in jail for an indefinite period.