Trial begins over Norwegian mosque attack

A Norwegian man suspected of killing his stepsister and then storming an Oslo mosque with firearms with the intention to kill as many Muslims as possible, appeared in court Thursday, charged with murder and terror.

Philip Manshaus appeared at a court west of Norway's capital and denied the charges read by prosecutor Johan Oeverberg, the Norwegian news agency NTB said. No information has emerged about his likely line of defense.

Manshaus was overpowered inside the Al-Noor Islamic Center mosque in suburban Oslo on August 10. He fired six shots but didn't hit anyone. One person was slightly injured when he jumped on Manshaus inside the mosque and held him until police arrived.

The prosecution says Manshaus, 22, is suspected of killing his 17-year-old stepsister, Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen, by shooting her four times three in the head and one in the chest with a hunting rifle at their home in the Oslo suburb of Baerum.

Shortly after that, prosecutors say, Manshaus drove to a nearby mosque where three men were preparing for Eid al-Adha celebrations.

He wore a helmet with a video camera attached and a bulletproof vest, They say Manshaus was armed with a hunting rifle and a shotgun and fired four shots with the rifle at a glass door before he was overpowered by one of the men in the mosque at the time, Muhammad Rafiq. During the scuffle, two more shots were fired but no one was hit.

Norwegian media have reported that Manshaus was inspired by shootings in March 2019 in New Zealand, where a gunman targeted two mosques, killing 51 people, and in August 2019 in El Paso, Texas, where an assailant targeted Hispanics and left at least 22 dead.

Norway's domestic security agency PST said it had a vague tip about Manshaus a year before the shooting, but it was not enough to act on because they had no information about any concrete plans of attack.