Oslo police claim they are now reasonably sure that there are two African men behind the recent sexual assaults in Oslo

Jonathan Tisdall:

"We are beginning to be reasonably certain that there are two perpetrators behind the three attempted rapes in downtown Oslo over the weekend," police lawyer Trude Sparre told newspaper Dagbladet's web site.

Police previously believed there was one man behind the three attacks, but several factors indicate a pair of assailants.

The attempted rape in Kirkegårdsgata (gata=street) is said to be markedly different from the two in Lakkegata and Trondheimsveien. In the latter two the victim was threatened with a knife, which was not the case in the Kirkegårdsgata attack.

The 25-year-old woman who was the attempted rape victim in Kirkegårdsgata was questioned again by police on Tuesday. Her description of her assailant varies from that given by the other two women.

"She had a completely different description of the man. It is still a case of an African person, but he has broader lips and nose. He has a bit more facial hair and rougher skin," Sparre said.

On Tuesday afternoon police released a sketch of the man then believed to be behind all three attacks. He is described as a man of African origin in his 20s. Now police are working on a new sketch that they hope to make public on Wednesday afternoon.

A door-to-door effort with the sketch has given the police a good response. Police have yet to find a man considered a key witness after he intervened in the Lakkegata attack and hit the assailant.

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