OSLO: Anders Behring Breivik, the lone man arrested in Norway's twin terror attacks, trained at a secret paramilitary camp in Belarus earlier this year, a Belarusian opposition politician said Thursday.
"Breivik visited Belarus several times. This spring, as part of his preparations for his twin attacks, he visited Minsk, where he underwent training at a secret paramilitary field camp," Mikhail Reshetnikov, head of the Belarusian Party of Patriots, told the Gazeta.ru online newspaper.
He cited sources within Belarus's "security organs".
Breivik, 32, has admitted carrying out the bombing in Oslo, which killed eight, and the shooting at a youth camp on Utoeya island, which left 68 dead.
He has not accepted criminal responsibility, saying his actions were "atrocious but necessary" measures intended to "save Norway and Western Europe" from a "Muslim takeover".
Breivik mentioned in his manifesto visiting Belarus to study the effects of fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
The former Soviet state's border agency has confirmed he was in Belarus from March 4 to 11, 2005.
The Belarusian politician also claimed Breivik participated in "sabotage-terrorism drills" under a former Belarusian special service officer and that he had used a fake passport to enter Belarus.
"His codename in Belarus's KGB was Viking. Rumors say he also had a girlfriend in Belarus," he said.