Five people (four women and a man) were killed this Wednesday in a bow and arrow attack in the Norwegian town of Kongsberg. Two others were wounded and are recovering in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Police chief Ole Bredrup Saeverud told reporters at a Thursday morning news briefing that the victims were all aged between 50 and 70.

He also explained that officers arrived at the scene minutes after the operations center received the first report, and that was it during the time between being first approached and then arrested, that the victims were killed.

The suspect, a 37-year-old Danish citizen had converted to Islam and “there earlier had been worries of the man having been radicalised”, pointed out Saeverud.

“Attacks appear to be an act of terror”

Norway's intelligence service, PST, said in a statement “attacks appear to be an act of terror”, but further investigation is needed to establish the motivation.

Jonas Gahr Stoere, the new Prime Minister, who presented his cabinet and took office on Thursday, told Norwegian news agency NTB that the the assault was “a cruel and brutal act”.

The outgoing conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg said reports of the attack were “horrifying”.

Kongsberg Mayor Kari Anne Sand said it was a shocking attack that had taken place in an area where many people lived.

Flags were flown at half-mast on Thursday while flowers and other memorials were placed in Kongsberg's main square.

This attack is the worst of any in Norway since 2011, when far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people, most of them teenagers at a youth camp.