Norway suspect terrorized island for 90 minutes

The city center was a sea of roadblocks yesterday, with groups of people peering over the barricades wherever they sprang up, as the shocked Nordic nation was gripped by reports that the gunman may not have acted alone. Police have not confirmed a second assailant but said they are investigating witness reports.

The queen and the prime minister hugged when they arrived at the hotel where families are waiting to identify the bodies. Both king and queen shook hands with mourners, while the prime minister, his voice trembling, told reporters of the harrowing stories survivors had recounted to him.

On the island of Utoya, panicked teens attending a Labor Party youth wing summer camp plunged into the water or played dead to avoid the assailant in the assault. A picture sent out on Twitter showed a blurry figure in dark clothing pointing a gun into the water, with bodies all around him.

The carnage hours earlier in Oslo, when a bomb rocked the city where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded, left a square covered in twisted metal, shattered glass, and documents ejected from surrounding buildings.

The dust-clogged scene after the blast reminded one visitor from New York of Sept. 11.

At a hotel in the village of Sundvollen, where survivors of the shooting were taken, 21-year-old Dana Berzingi wore pants stained with blood. He said the fake police officer ordered people to come closer, then pulled weapons and ammunition from a bag and started shooting.

Several victims “had pretended they were dead to survive,’’ Berzingi said. But after shooting the victims with one gun, the gunman shot them again in the head with a shotgun, he said.

The United States, European Union, NATO, and the United Kingdom all quickly condemned the bombing, which Britain’s foreign secretary, William Hague, called horrific and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen deemed a “heinous act.’’

“It’s a reminder that the entire international community has a stake in preventing this kind of terror from occurring,’’ President Obama said.

Obama extended his condolences to Norway’s people and offered US assistance with the investigation.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II wrote to Norway’s king to offer her condolences and express her shock and sadness at the shooting attacks in his country.