An overnight explosion at the US embassy in Norway may have been an act of terrorism, although authorities are investigating other possible causes, police in Oslo said on Sunday.
The explosion occurred around 1:00 a.m. (0000 GMT) at the entrance to the consular section of the embassy. There were no injuries, the incident caused only minor material damage. Officials did not release details on the exact cause of the blast, but confirmed that an “explosive device” was used.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store described the incident as “very serious and completely unacceptable”. He said in a statement that he had spoken with the head of the US Embassy in Oslo on Sunday.
PM Store said security had also been beefed up at “other American, Israeli and also Jewish targets” in Norway, but stressed that “there is no indication that the situation is dangerous for people in Oslo or elsewhere in the country”.
Broken glass could be seen in the snow in front of the building’s entrance, as well as cracks in the thick glass doors. Ceiling lamps were dangling from wiring, and there were black marks on the ground at the foot of the door, probably from an explosion.
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“One of the hypotheses is that this is a terrorist act,” Frode Larsen, head of the joint police investigation and intelligence unit, told public broadcaster NRK.
“But we are not completely stuck on it. We have to be open to the possibility that there may be other causes behind what happened,” he said on the sidelines of a press conference.
Police were looking for the perpetrators, but so far they have “no suspects”, Larsen told reporters. Oslo police officer Grete Lien Metlid apparently confirmed that an explosive was thrown at the embassy. Asked by a reporter if the device used was a hand grenade, she said, “We didn’t say anything about what was thrown.”
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Investigators in Oslo have not ruled out the possibility that the explosion could be related to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Police official Larsen said it was natural to look at the incident in the context of the current security situation, adding that security had been beefed up at the site following the blast.
Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide has previously stressed that “the security of diplomatic missions is extremely important to us”.
Norway’s security service PST told AFP it had called in additional staff to help police with the investigation.
Spokesman Martin Bernsen stressed that there had been “no change” in the Scandinavian country’s threat assessment level, which has been at level three on a five-point scale since November 2024. He declined to say whether any threats were made against US interests in Norway before the explosion.
Oslo police said in a statement that investigators examined the scene overnight while dogs, drones and helicopters were deployed to search for those responsible.
US embassies in the Middle East have been put on high alert amid US military operations in Iran, with several missions facing attacks as Tehran targets industrial and diplomatic sites in retaliation.
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Security around US embassies around the world is usually tight, although it was not immediately clear what specific security measures were in place at the Oslo embassy at the time of the incident.
Hours after the explosion, police said the area around the building was “safe” for residents and pedestrians.
What did people say when they heard the explosion?
The 16-year-old, identified only as Edvard, told TV2 he was watching TV when he heard the explosion.
“My mother and I thought it was coming from our house at first, so we looked around a bit, but then we saw flashing lights outside the window and lots of police,” he said.
“There were police dogs and drones in the air and officers with automatic weapons and helicopters,” he said.
A group of three friends told TV2 that they were waiting for a taxi near the embassy at the time of the explosion.
One of them, Kristian Wendelborg Einung, said they felt three loud explosions that caused the ground to shake.
He added that after getting into their taxi, they drove past the site and saw the street in front of the embassy filled with smoke. He said they got to the area before police arrived and noticed a thick blanket of smoke, which he described as similar to dense fog.
