Heavily armed police equipped with bulletproof vests and helmets were patrolling the scene of the shootings in central Oslo [Javad Parsa/NTB/via Reuters]

Oslo, June 25 (RHC)-- At least two people have been killed and 21 others wounded when a man opened fire outside a popular gay bar and nearby locations in Norway’s capital Oslo, police said, ahead of a planned annual Pride parade.

Police said on Saturday a suspect had been arrested following the shootings, which occurred at about 1am local time (23:00 GMT on Friday) in three locations, including a gay bar, close together in the centre of the Norwegian capital.

Norwegian police said that they were treating the deadly shootings as a “terrorist attack” as the organisers cancelled all Pride events planned for Saturday afternoon on the advice of the police.

In a news conference on Saturday, police officials said the man arrested after the shooting was a Norwegian citizen of Iranian origin who was previously known to police but not for major crimes.  They said they had seized two firearms in connection with the attack: a handgun and an automatic weapon.

“Now everything indicates that there was only one person who committed this act,” police spokesman Tore Barstad told a press briefing earlier in the day.  Barstad, the police spokesman, said the motive was not immediately known and it was not clear whether the shooting had any connection to the Pride parade.

Oslo was due to hold its annual Pride parade later on Saturday, just months after Norway marked 50 years since the abolition of a law that criminalised gay sex.