Police believe suspect may have killed relative before attack on man, 75, at al-Noor Islamic Centre near Oslo

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This article is more than 1 year old

One person has been injured in a shooting inside a mosque in Norway, Oslo police said on Saturday, adding that a man had been apprehended.

The suspect may also have killed a relative before launching the attack, police said. “A young woman was found dead at the suspect’s address,” assistant chief of police Rune Skjold told a news conference, adding that the man was suspected of murder.

The suspected gunman at the al-Noor Islamic Centre near the country’s capital was described as “a young white man”, police added.

The victim was a 75-year-old member of the congregation, mosque director Irfan Mushtaq told TV2.

“The man carried two shotgun-like weapons and a pistol. He broke through a glass door and fired shots,” he said.

The suspected attacker appeared to have acted alone, the police added. “He is around 20 years old, a Norwegian citizen from the area,” Skjold told Reuters.

The gunman, who wore body armour and a helmet, was overpowered by members of the mosque before police arrived, Mushtaq added.

Only three people were present in the mosque at the time of the attack, preparing for Sunday’s celebration of Eid al-Adha, which up to 1,000 people had been expected to attend, mosque spokesman Waheed Ahmed told Reuters.

Earlier this year the Islamic centre implemented extra security measures following the massacre of more than 50 people at two New Zealand mosques by a suspected right-wing extremist.

In 2011, the anti-Muslim neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik massacred 77 people in Norway’s worst peacetime atrocity, the majority of them teenagers at a leftwing youth camp.