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UPDATED: Norwegian police arrest gunman after stolen Oslo ambulance driven into pedestrians

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
UPDATED: Norwegian police arrest gunman after stolen Oslo ambulance driven into pedestrians
Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB Scanpix / AFP

Norwegian police arrested an armed man who, according to media reports, went on the rampage in Oslo on Tuesday in a stolen ambulance, running down pedestrians including twin babies in a pram.

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The armed man took control of an ambulance before running over several people and a stroller in the Torshov area on Tuesday afternoon. One man has been arrested and police are looking for a woman, national broadcaster NRK reports.


Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB Scanpix / AFP

"We have taken control of an ambulance that was stolen by an armed man," Oslo police said on Twitter.

"Shots were fired to arrest the suspect, he is not seriously injured," they added.

"We have no information for now indicating that this is terror-related," Oslo police later tweeted.

According to the TV2 channel, the arrested man is in his 30s and the woman being sought is in her 20s. Both are Norwegian nationals and known previously to the police.

"A woman with a pram and an elderly couple were run over or had to throw themselves out of the way" of the stolen vehicle, police added in another Twitter post.

The ambulance was on the Åsengata street when the suspect took it before driving at pedestrians.

Oslo University Hospital has confirmed to NRK that seven-month-old twins in a double pram were taken to hospital. One was mildly hurt, while the other's condition is currently unknown.

Television images showed an overturned pram lying by an upturned traffic sign.

According to TV2, the arrested man was in his 30s.

Police shot at the tyres of the ambulance and the driver fired back, witnesses told NRK.

Police had been pursuing the ambulance when it crashed into a gate outside a residential building.

Television images showed a damaged Mercedes ambulance with what appeared to be several bullet holes in the front left door.

The incident took place in a residential neighbourhood in northern Oslo. Students at a nearby school and daycare centre were ordered to remain indoors.

A large number of police officers, some of them heavily armed, were deployed at the scene and a helicopter was also dispatched.

The suspect's motive was not immediately known, police said.

Police tweeted that they are looking for a woman described as “light-skinned, 165cm (tall), wavy brown hair, wearing black jacket, looks intoxicated. The woman was last seen near Rosenhoff. If seen, contact police immediately on 02800”.

Norway has experienced several terrorist attacks by rightwing extremists, including the July 2011 twin attacks by Anders Behring Breivik that left 77 people dead.

There have however been no attacks carried out by Islamist extremists on Norwegian soil.

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