Norway honours massacre victims in memorial service

Norway paid tribute to victims of last week's twin terrorist attacks in a memorial service in Oslo Friday.

The memorial service was organised by the youth movement of the Labour Party, the same youth movement that Breivik attacked on the island of Uteoya.

Breivik has admitted to the attack but has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges. He claims his attacks were justified because the parent party to the youth movement, the Labour party, was contributing to the “Islamisation of western Europe”.

He called last Friday's bombing and shooting "gruesome but necessary".

Friday also marked the first funerals of victims from the attack, which took place in capital Oslo and in the southern town of Hamar.

The victims laid to rest were Bano Rashid, a Kurdish Iraqi refugee, and Ismali Haji Ahmed.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called the victims of the massacre "heros", and said the government’s response to the right-wing extremist terrorism would be "more democracy".

At the memorial service, Stoltenberg added, "Out of our grief a much stronger unity will arise. We are going to honour and celebrate our heroes, but most of all we are going to stay true to our ideas and our values."

In a symbol of solidarity, Stoltenberg visited a mosque on Friday.

On the same day, Breivik faced his second round of questioning by police to determine whether he is linked to other terrorists.

On Thursday, it was concluded by Norway's top police official that Breivik had indeed acted alone in orchestrating and carrying out the shooting rampage and car bombing.

The official search for victims on Utoya has ended. However, on the police website, it is indicated the search around the waters of Utoya is ongoing.

Norway has identified all 76 victims and the names of 41 have been released thus far.