Lawyer of man who confessed to Norway killings says client claims he is part of international network and may be insane

The lawyer defending Anders Behring Breivik, the suspect behind Norway's terror attacks, said on Tuesday he had concluded his client was most likely "insane" and he was baffled that he had asked him to represent him.

Geir Lippestad, a member of the Labour party whose youth wing (AUF) Breivik targeted, killing more than 60 during a massacre on Utøya island, said he would cease representing him if the suspect refused to agree to psychological tests.

Describing Brievik as a "very cold" person, Lippestad added: "This whole case has indicated that he is insane." He said defending the man who had confessed to carrying out the attacks was a job that had to be done to preserve the integrity of the Norwegian legal system, but did not understand why the killer had chosen him.

Speaking to reporters, Lippestad also said Breivik had shared more details on his connections to far-right cells including a number outside the country.

The focus continues to intensify on links between UK far-right groups and Brievik with London, the city where the suspect launched his organisation to "save Europe from Muslim takeover".

Lipestad added: "He talks about two cells in Norway, but several cells abroad." Noregian police sources, however, have cast doubt on such claims.

It was also established that Monday's court appearance was closed to the public and media over police concerns Breivik would attempt to send signals to other cells.

Meanwhile, Norway's justice minister, Knut Storberget, has attempted to quell criticism of the police operation following the attacks, praising their work as "fantastic". Within hours, Breivik's lawyer had revealed that the suspect was surprised that he wasn't stopped earlier during the two attacks.

As prosecutors indicated they were exploring the possibility of charging Breivik with crimes against humanity – which carries a sentence of 30 years compared to the current maximum of 21 – the inquest into a series of failings dominated much of the debate in Norway.

Among a set of unanswered concerns are why the Norwegian intelligence arm placed Breivik on a watch list after buying fertiliser in Poland that may have been used to build the Oslo bomb but then took no action.

Such was the device's ferocity that Storberget revealed that employees from his department remain missing in the ruins of the capital's government building. Further north at the scene of Friday's massacre, police said that 50 officers continue to comb the nearby waters for victims.

With the current death toll likely to grow, an official list confirming the majority of identities could be released by police shortly. Police say they have been averaging 20 postmortems a day since the attacks. Brievik's lawyer said his client was neither aware of the number he had killed or the strength of public revulsion following the atrocities.

Lippestad said that the suspect had asked him how many he had killed. The lawyer also added that the 32-year-old hated anyone who did not share extremist views.

As Norway waits for confirmation of those who died, attention continues to focus upon how Breivik, despite saying he had been planning the attacks since 2009, managed to evade Norway's security agencies and carry out the twin attacks.

It has emerged that as long ago as 2006 security concerns were raised that the main street running through the centre of Norway's government district, where the device was detonated, should be closed.

The Utøya massacre has also exposed the country's lack of emergency air response, forcing officers to drive to the island as the killings went on. The one helicopter available to Norwegian special forces was 42 miles away and, according to local reports, could not be flown in time due to Norway's "holiday season".

The setbacks meant armed teams took more than an hour to reach Utøya island. Norwegian media have also carried claims that ambulances on the way to the island to help the wounded were held up as police attempted to secure the area.

Amid a flurry of fresh claims that pointed to links between the suspect and the English Defence League, further details on the pan-European nature of the attacks emerged with reports that Breivik travelled to Karlstad in Sweden, to pick up 150kg of aluminium to apparently give the Oslo device more power.

On Tuesday, a Danish businessman revealed that he had discussed methods of creating explosions with Breivik. In an interview with the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet, Glenn Jensen said he had met the gunman several times over the past five or six years.

Jensen, who ran a construction company and had legitimate knowledge of demolitions, said the conversation did not seem abnormal because "men and boys are interested in gunpowder and bullets and fast cars".

Further details on how Breivik may have funded the attacks have also surfaced. One local claim suggested Breivik was initially intent on raising money on the stock market to establish a European anti-Islam group, before later helping fund the attacks by applying for 25 different credit cards.

Breivik has admitted to carrying out last Friday's attacks but has pleaded not guilty, explaining to Oslo prosecutors that he "is happy" with the death toll.

His one regret, it seems, is not being able to kill the former prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The former PM gave a talk to young people gathered on Utøya Island but had left before Breivik arrived on a ferry, dressed as a policeman. Brundtland has dismissed being one of Breivik's principal targets as unimportant.

She said: "The image of this tragedy for me is the wonderful young people I spoke to in the hall [on Utøya]."

She said she had met seven young girls, all planning to stand for the first time in elections in autumn. "They asked for advice and I told them to be themselves," she said. "Now one of those girls has disappeared."

On Monday, Brundtland led thousands on a candleliit vigil through the centre of Oslo as the city expressed a compelling defiance that it would not be cowed by extremism. Urged to carry a rose to express their solidarity, by midnight the city was smothered in piles of the flowers with car windscreens, including police vans, covered in wreaths.