Second list of confirmed dead hits young political leaders

When Oslo police released the second list of those confirmed dead in a dual terrorist attack in Norway carried out last Friday, one name stood out among the rest: Sharidyn Svebakk-Bohn, born 1997, was far younger than the rest on the list, only 14 years old when her life was cut short. "Sharidyn was a courageous young lady who took every challenge with ease. One of her strongest qualities was her ability to care for others. She was a proud big sister to her two younger sisters, and she loved to care for them as a big sister," her parents said in a statement. "Her smile could light up a whole room and she made everyone she met smile as well." In total, police released 13 new names today. The lists from Utoya, where most of the identifications are now taking place, are composed of bright young stars in Norway's labor party, most of whom were headed for promising political careers. The police will be releasing a list of the deceased each day once their identities have been confirmed and their parents have been notified. The first list was released yesterday, albeit long after local media had already identified and broadcast them. One of the four listed was Tore Elkeland, who at the age of 21 had already caught the eye of current prime minister Jens Stoltenberg. "He was one of our most talented youth politicians," Stoltenberg said at a memorial service in Oslo's Central Cathedral on Sunday. "Now he is dead. Gone forever. It's incomprehensible." As the official list grows and the personal histories of the deceased in the Oslo attacks become public, the blow to a generation of liberal leaders is coming put into sharp relief. Marit Nybakk, a member of parliament from the Labor party said that while the attacks were devastating, the party would hold through the crisis. "Yes, he killed a lot of our youth leaders - activists from all but one of Norway's 19 counties are reported dead or missing," Nybakk told the Guardian newspaper on Tuesday. "But the youth labor movement is very big, very strong, very well organized, and in time, will recover." "This hit the group very, very hard. Labor will see a lot of sympathy in the upcoming months," said Yngve Carlsson, the head of the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities. Also on the list was Silje Merete Fjellbu, 17, who was killed in Utoye. She was instrumental in founding a local wing of the labor party in Eastern Telemark, according to the Norwegian daily Aftenposten. Anne Lisa Holt, 52, was the only person on today's list who was not killed at Utoye. She had worked as a consultant to the prime minister and was killed by an explosion that rocked central Oslo just hours before the Utoya massacre. Of the 76 suspected dead, the names of 17 have now officially been released to the public. All but one of those remaining will likely have been on the island at the youth camp. Police today said that they are still searching the waters around Utoya for any of those who may have died while attempting to swim away from the Breivik. Stoltenberg today also announced his intentions to form a "July 22 committee" to investigate the police response to the attacks following growing criticism over the hour-and-a-half window given to Breivik to stalk Utoya searching for victims as SWAT teams struggled to reach the island. Norwegian television station NRK had a helicopter circling over the site at least ten minutes before the police arrived by boat. The review and possible strengthening of Norway's security measures would likely be at odds with the country's peaceful reputation, Stoltenberg noted, but it was necessary to "distinguish between naivete and openness." He promised that Norway would remain defiant in the face of the recent violence. "Our commitment to our core values will grow stronger," he said.