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Norway's PM pressed to quit after Breivik report

Norway's prime minister came under pressure to resign Tuesday after an official report said police could have prevented a murder spree by far right militant Anders Behring Breivik last year that killed 77 people.

Norway's prime minister came under pressure to resign Tuesday after an official report said police could have prevented a murder spree by far right militant Anders Behring Breivik last year that killed 77 people.

The attack, which involved a deadly bombing of central Oslo and a shooting spree at a teenage summer camp, shook the nation of five million, raising questions about the prevalence of far-right views and the efficiency of the police.

On Monday, a government commission concluded that the country's intelligence services and police had both made a series of crucial blunders that had allowed Breivik to carry out his crimes on July 22, 2011, unimpeded.

"A more devastating verdict on our government could not have been made," top-selling newspaper VG said on Tuesday, calling in a front page editorial for Jens Stoltenberg, the prime minister, to resign.

"The government failed to protect the people because of incompetence.

It would be intolerable if this didn't have personal consequences for the people involved," it added.

Daily DN also laid the responsibility for the failings on the prime minister, saying he had delayed approving security measures that could have prevented the attack.

On Monday, Stoltenberg accepted responsibility for the report's findings, saying he would stay on to implement its recommendations.

He declined to comment on VG's editorial.

Stoltenberg's Labour Party, which governs via a coalition government, is trailing the conservative opposition in the polls little more than a year before elections.