Norway massacre: Media 'rushed to blame Muslims'

Minutes after the bombing security experts were speculating on the BBC that the attack was the work of Islamists.

Within hours police had identified the killer as 32-year-old ethnic Norwegian Anders Behring Brevik.

But speculation continued, with Saturday's Sun featuring the headline "'Al Qaeda' Massacre: Norway's 9/11."

"Witnesses claimed the gun maniac was blonde with blue eyes and spoke Norwegian - raising fears that he was a home-grown Al-Qaeda convert," the paper's lead story read.

An article by BBC journalist Jorn Madslien on Friday afternoon which began with the words: "If the bomb blast in Oslo turns out to be a terror attack, it will mark a 9/11 moment for Norway" prompted an angry response from Muslim News editor Ahmed Versi.

He said today he rejected Mr Madslien's implication that "terrorism" was defined by a perpetrator's religion.

If a bomb is not terrorism, he asked, "What is it then? If it's political then surely that defines it as terrorism. What you mean is, it's a Muslim terror attack."

Mr Versi said he did not expect the media to apologise "but there definitely needs to be more responsibility."

One Society Many Cultures spokeswoman Sabby Dhalu echoed his concerns. "The media must act responsibly at this sensitive time. In other instances, scapegoating of the Muslim community led to reprisal attacks against innocent Muslims and others.

"The recent events which have put a spotlight on the practices of the media must now extend to change the culture which sees a kneejerk reaction to stereotype Muslims," she said.