Norway unveils memorial to 77 victims of 2011 attacks

Norway unveiled a memorial in Oslo on Sunday to the 77 people killed in the July 22, 2011 attacks, the deadliest peacetime massacre in the country's history.

Anders Behring Breivik set off a bomb in a van near government headquarters in Oslo, killing eight people, before shooting dead 69 others, mostly teenagers, at a youth wing summer camp on the island of Utoya.

Survivors, bereaved relatives, Crown Prince Haakon and government officials attended Sunday's ceremony in the capital.

Merete Stamneshagen, head of a support group for victims and survivors, said July 22, 2011 was a brutal attack not only on individuals, but also on Norway's democracy.

The memorial is located in the renovated government district. It features a 12-metre-high mosaic showing a small wading bird and blades of grass reflected in water. Norwegian artist Matias Faldbakken created the artwork and said he had seen the bird on Utoya.

The names of all 77 victims are engraved on the memorial. Crown Prince Haakon also visited the new 22 July Centre, Norway's national memorial and education centre dedicated to the attacks.

Breivik was sentenced in 2012 to 21 years in prison, then Norway's maximum sentence. The sentence can be extended indefinitely if he is still considered a threat. Now 47, the far-right extremist said he killed his victims because they supported multiculturalism.