Norwegian extremist hoped to decapitate former PM

OSLO, Norway (AP) — Confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik planned to capture and decapitate former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland during his shooting massacre on Utoya island, he said Thursday.

Breivik told a court in Oslo that he planned to film the beheading and post the video on the Internet. Brundtland had already left the Labor Party’s youth camp on Utoya when Breivik arrived on July 22. Breivik had previously sett off a bomb in Oslo that killed eight people.

“The plan was to behead Gro Harlem Brundtland while it was being filmed,” Breivik told the court.

The far-right fanatic said he was inspired by al-Qaida’s use of decapitation but noted that “beheading is a traditional European death penalty.”

On the fourth day of his trial on terror charges, Breivik said he also planned to kill many more than the 69 people who died on the island, where nearly 600 people from Labor youth groups from around Norway were gathered for their annual summer retreat.

“The goal was not to kill 69 people on Utoya. The goal was to kill them all,” Breivik said.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.