Students shut themselves in as Norway bow-and-arrow attacker struck

A student described how he and his friends shut themselves in his bedroom as a man armed with a bow and arrow tried to get into his home during a deadly attack in the Norwegian town of Kongsberg.

The attacker killed five people and wounded three others including an off-duty police officer during his rampage on Wednesday, police said. 

Norwegian student Mohammed Shaban said one of his friends looked up and saw a man pushing at an open window and trying to get in.

"My friend said: 'What's happening, what's happening? Who is he?,'" the 25-year-old told Reuters. The man appeared to aim something at his friend.

"We ran into the bedroom to save ourselves and I held on to the door handle... From the window I saw the man, wearing grey jeans and a white singlet. I saw him from behind." They watched as the man ran away.

Police said the man managed to get into a number of other houses and a supermarket during the attack and victims were found both indoors and outdoors.

Shop worker Markus Kultima said he saw the off-duty police officer walking with an arrow in his back. The wounded officer told him to go home.

"I had to walk in the direction where that guy came from," the 23-year-old said.

A court was due to decide on Friday how long police could hold a man arrested on suspicion of carrying out the attacks. 

Espen Andersen Braathen, a 37-year-old Danish citizen who has lived for most of his life in the Kongsberg municipality, has acknowledged killing the victims, investigators have said.

Braathen is believed to have acted alone and is cooperating with the investigation, police have said.

The suspect is currently in the care of health professionals, police said on Friday.