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Two more arrested for suspected involvement in Oslo Pride shooting

AFP
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Two more arrested for suspected involvement in Oslo Pride shooting
Police have arrested two more suspects linked to the Oslo Pride shooting. Pictured: A woman with a progress flag stands at a makeshift memorial at a crime scene on June 25 photo by Olivier Morin / AFP)

Norwegian police said Monday they had arrested two alleged accomplices of the suspect in a June shooting that killed two people in Oslo on the sidelines of Pride celebrations.

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The two suspects were arrested on Sunday in Oslo suspected of "complicity in a terrorist act", the Oslo police said in a statement.

One is a Somali man in his forties, the other a Norwegian in his thirties -- both of them known to police. Their identities were not disclosed.

In the early hours of June 25, a man opened fire near a gay bar in central Oslo during celebrations linked to the city's Pride festival.

The shooting killed two men, aged 54 and 60, and wounded 21 others. Immediately after the shooting, police arrested Zaniar Matapour, a
43-year-old Norwegian of Iranian origin, on suspicion of carrying out the attack.

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The new arrests bring the number of people implicated in the attack to four, as Norwegian police announced last week they were seeking another suspect linked to the shooting.

On Friday, Oslo police announced that they had issued an international arrest warrant for Arfan Qadeer Bhatti, a 45-year-old Islamist with a prior conviction, who is also suspected of "complicity in a terrorist act".

"The police still believes Bhatti is in Pakistan," a country with which Norway has no extradition agreement, police said Monday.

"To ensure the best possible cooperation with the Pakistani authorities, we had Oslo police officers in Pakistan a short time ago," it added.

According to police, they have not yet had direct contact with Arfan Bhatti but have spoken to his Norwegian lawyer, Svein Holden, and say they expect the legal proceedings in Pakistan to take time.

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