Breivik's explosives cache destroyed

Norwegian police detonated a cache of explosives at a farm rented by Breivik on Tuesday night.

They believe Breivik made the bomb which killed eight people in Oslo on Friday using fertiliser as a main ingredient.

He is thought to have bought fertiliser posing as a farmer.

A police spokeswoman said no-one was hurt in the controlled blast, at Rena, about 160km north of the capital.

She did not specify the quantity of explosives that were found.

Breivik has confessed to the bombing at a government headquarters and the shooting rampage on the island retreat for the youth wing of the ruling Labour Party, but he pleads not guilty to the terrorism charges he faces. 

He claims he acted to save Europe from what he describes as Muslim colonisation.

Earlier Breivik's lawyer said he would advise his client to plead insanity at his trial for the murders of the bombing victims and 68 fellow Norwegians on Utoya.

As details of Breivik's victims began to emerge , lawyer Geir Lippestrad, described him as a "very cold" person who described the attacks as necessary because he was in a state of war.

"This whole case indicated that he is insane," Lippestad said.

Two psychiatric experts will examine Breivik to determine whether he is mentally ill, he added.

Meanwhile, a Norwegian cabinet minister will make a symbolic return to her bomb-damaged office, as the country attempts to get back to normality.

Administration and Church Affairs Minister Rigmor Aasrud will be the first cabinet member to return to her normal office after the bomb blew a hole through the prime minister's office and badly damaged other buildings.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is currently working in the defence ministry, which is in another part of the city.