Worshipper, 65, takes down heavily armed mosque gunman before he can kill anyone

A 65-year-old man who tackled a gunman who stormed a mosque in Norway is being hailed as a hero.

Witnesses said Mohamed Rafiq restrained the terror suspect and held him down with another worshipper before police arrived, despite being injured in the struggle.

Mr Rafiq was among three people at the al-Noor Islamic Centre in Baerum on Saturday, when a man burst in with “two shotgun-like weapons and a pistol”.

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The attacker, who was reportedly wearing a uniform and body armour, broke through a glass door to reach the place of worship, where people were preparing to celebrate the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha.

Speaking to press outside a nearby hotel on Sunday, Mr Rafiq said: “I’m thankful for all of the help and support I have received.”

He told how he held the gunman down while another worshipper, Mohamed Iqbal, hit him on the head.

Irfan Mushtaq, board member of the mosque, said that minutes before the shooting on Saturday afternoon around 15 people had been inside the building.

The suspect has been named as Philip Manshaus, a 21-year-old local man.

A post on an online messaging board suggested he was a far-right extremist inspired by the Christchurch, Poway and El Paso shooters

Police are investigating the shooting as a potential terror attack, and have arrested a local white man in his 20s on suspicion of attempted murder.

The same man is also accused of killing his 17-year-old stepsister, whose body was found at her home.

“We’re investigating this as an attempt at carrying out an act of terrorism,” assistant chief of police Rune Skjold told a news conference on Sunday.

“We have uncovered extreme right-wing attitudes. The defendant has expressed opinions in which he praises [Norwegian fascist and Nazi collaborator] Quisling and is hostile towards immigration.”

Mr Skjold praised the “great courage” shown by Mr Rafiq and Mr Iqbal in restraining the gunman after several shots were fired, adding: “There is no doubt that their efforts prevented this from having entirely different consequences.”

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Reuters 6/50 6 August 2019 Paleontologist Naturalis Anne Schulp takes part in the construction of the skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus Rex called Trix in Naturalis in Leiden, The Netherlands. After a month-long tour of Europe, Trix is home in time for the opening of the new museum. AFP/Getty 7/50 5 August 2019 Flowers paying tribute to the eight-year-old boy who died after he was pushed under a train at Frankfurt am Main's station. The horrific crime happened last week and has led politicians to call for heightened security. AFP/Getty 8/50 4 August 2019 Mourners take part in a vigil near the border fence between Mexico and the US after a mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso killed 20 people. The suspected gunman behind shooting is believed to be a 21-year-old white man called Patrick Crusius. Reuters 9/50 3 August 2019 Pramac Racing's rider Jack Miller in action during a practice session at the Motorcycling Grand Prix of the Czech Republic. 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These jellies are incredibly rare and this new South African species is no exception EPA 11/50 1 August 2019 Palestinian men breathe fire on the beach as entertainment for children during the summer vacation in Gaza City AFP/Getty 12/50 31 July 2019 A woman rows a boat through the lotus plants on the waters of Dal Lake in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir. The lake is a popular tourist destination because of its floating gardens and lotus flowers EPA 13/50 30 July 2019 An effigy of demon Ghantakarna is burnt to symbolize the destruction of evil and belief to drive evil spirits and ghost, during the Ghantakarna festival at the ancient city of Bhaktapur, Nepal Reuters 14/50 29 July 2019 Hundreds of hot air balloons take part in the Great Line at the Mondial Air Ballons festival, in an attempt to break the 2017 record of 456 balloons aligning in an hour during the biggest meeting in the world, in Chambley, France Reuters 15/50 28 July 2019 Anti-extradition bill protesters with umbrellas attend a rally against the police brutality in Hong Kong EPA 16/50 27 July 2019 A general view of stalls closed following yesterday's volcanic eruption at the tourism area of Mount Tangkuban Parahu in the north of Bandung, West Java province, Indonesia. 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July 18, marks 101 years since the birth of Mandela in 1918 AFP/Getty 26/50 17 July 2019 Firefighters rush to the scene to put out a fire that spread to parked cars in Jerusalem, following an extreme heat wave AFP/Getty Images 27/50 16 July 2019 Rescuers work at the site of collapsed building in Dongri area of Mumbai, India EPA 28/50 15 July 2019 A motorist drives past a destroyed house after a large earthquake that hit Surigao City, in the southern island of Mindanao, Philippines AFP/Getty Images 29/50 14 July 2019 French Gendarmes remove fences next to a burning portable toilet during clashes with protesters on the Champs Elysees avenue after the traditional Bastille Day military parade in Paris, France Reuters 30/50 13 July 2019 A recortador jumps over a bull during a contest in a bullring at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain Reuters 31/50 12 July 2019 Japan's Megumu Yoshida and Yukiko Inui compete in the duet technical artistic swimming event during the 2019 World Championships at Yeomju Gymnasium in Gwangju AFP/Getty 32/50 11 July 2019 Hot air balloons fly over the city of Igualada during an early flight as part of the European Balloon Festival in Igualada, Spain. The European Balloon Festival has become the most important hot air balloon event in Spain and one of the biggest in Europe Getty 33/50 10 July 2019 USA's players take part in their champions parade through New York after winning the Women's World Cup at the weekend in France Reuters 34/50 9 July 2019 The pack rides during the fourth stage of the Tour de France cycling race in Nancy, France AP 35/50 8 July 2019 Temple Priest Siva Sri Arumugam Paskarakurukkal and Hindu devotees celebrate the Makorcavam temple festival at Germany's largest Hindu temple in Hamm, Germany EPA 36/50 7 July 2019 Megan Rapinoe lifts the Women's World Cup following USA's victory over The Netherlands at Stade de Lyon in the final held in France Getty 37/50 6 July 2019 Manneken Pis is dressed in the overall leader's yellow jersey, before the start of the Tour de France Stage 1 Reuters 38/50 5 July 2019 Sudanese protesters celebrate in the streets of Khartoum after ruling generals and protest leaders announced they have reached an agreement on the disputed issue of a new governing body AFP/Getty Images 39/50 4 July 2019 Demonstrators burn a national flag in front of the White House during a Fourth of July protest Reuters 40/50 3 July 2019 Smoke billows and flames propagate across the hillside near houses after the Stromboli volcano erupted in the north of Sicily. It killed a hiker and sent tourists fleeing into the sea AFP/Getty 41/50 2 July 2019 An orangutan looks out of its cage in the controversial Pata Zoo in Thailand. Located at the top of a department store, the zoo has been controversial for keeping animals in tiny, concrete cages EPA 42/50 1 July 2019 A protester breaks in to the Legislative Council building in Hong Kong during a protest on the 22nd anniversary of the territory's handover to China from Britain Reuters 43/50 30 June 2019 Riot police use rubber pellets to disperse LGBT rights activists as they try to gather for a pride parade, which was banned by the governorship, in central Istanbul, Turkey Reuters 44/50 29 June 2019 A member of the LGBTQ community participates in the Metro Manila Pride parade in Marikina City, Philippines Reuters 45/50 28 June 2019 Explosive charges blow up the remaining sections of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa, Italy after it partially collapsed last year killing 43 and injuring dozens AFP/Getty 46/50 27 June 2019 A forest fire flare up in Ziltendorf near Frankfurt, Germany as mainland Europe suffers an intense heatwave AFP/Getty 47/50 26 June 2019 One of the world's most hazardous volcanoes, Mount Ulawun in Papua New Guinea, erupts spewing lava and ash high into the air AFP/Getty 48/50 25 June 2019 A Russian Soyuz MS-11 space capsule carrying astronauts returning from the International Space Station lands in the steppes of south-east Kazakhstan AP 49/50 24 June 2019 An aerial view shows a crater on a barley field near Ahlbach. Experts assume that an air bomb of the WWII probably exploded at a depth of several metres as a result of the triggering of the chemical detonator. AFP/Getty 50/50 23 June 2019 People gather for a protest in Prague, Czech Republic. Protesters are on calling on Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis to step down over fraud allegations and subsidies paid to his former companies AP

The suspect remains in custody and is undergoing a psychiatric assessment, officials said.

The mosque earlier this year implemented extra security measures following the massacre of more than 50 people at two mosques in Christchurch.

In 2011, white supremacist Anders Behring Breivik massacred 77 people in Norway’s worst peacetime atrocity, the majority of them teenagers at a youth camp.