Norwegian gunman describes killings

OSLO -- Norwegians who lost loved ones on Utoya island relived the horror Friday as far-right fanatic Anders Behring Breivik described in harrowing detail how he gunned down teenagers as they fled in panic or froze before him, paralyzed with fear.

Survivors and victims' relatives hugged and sobbed, trying to comfort each other during the graphic testimony.

"I'm going back to my hometown tonight. My husband, he's going to drive me out to the sea, and I'm going to take a walk there and I'm going to scream my head off," said Christin Bjelland, whose teenage son survived the attack.

Breivik's defense attorneys had warned that their client's testimony would be difficult to hear. Still, the shock was palpable in the 200-seat courtroom as the self-styled anti-Islamic militant rolled out his gruesome account, without any sign of emotion.

A man who lost a son squeezed his eyes shut. A man to his left put a comforting hand to his shoulder, while a woman to his right clutched onto him, resting her forehead against his arm.

Tore Sinding Bekkedal, a 24-year-old survivor of the massacre, left the courtroom during Breivik's testimony.

"I could not care less about what he says or the way he says it," Bekkedal said. "I do not care about him as a person."

Breivik has confessed to the July 22 bombing-and-shooting rampage that killed 77 people -- 69 on Utoya and eight in Oslo. But he rejects criminal guilt, saying the victims had betrayed Norway by embracing "Islamic colonization." Looking tense but focused, Breivik spoke calmly about the shooting rampage.

Breivik said the first shots pushed him into a "fight-and-flight" mode that made it easier to continue killing.