An overnight explosion at the US Embassy in Norway may have been a terrorist act, though authorities are also examining other possible causes, police in Oslo said on Sunday.
The blast occurred around 1:00 am (0000 GMT) at the entrance to the embassy’s consular section. No injuries were reported, and the incident caused only minor material damage. Officials did not disclose details about the exact cause of the explosion but confirmed that an “explosive device” had been used.
Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store called the incident “very serious and completely unacceptable”. In a statement, he said he had spoken with the head of the US embassy in Oslo on Sunday.
PM Store said security had also been beefed up at “at other American, Israeli, and also Jewish targets” in Norway, but stressed that “nothing indicates that the situation is dangerous for people in Oslo or elsewhere in the country.”
Shattered glass could be seen in the snow outside the building’s entrance, as well as cracks in a thick glass door. Overhead lamps dangled from wiring, and there were black marks on the ground at the foot of the door, presumably from the blast.
“One of the hypotheses is that it is an act of terrorism,” Frode Larsen, the head of the police’s joint unit for investigation and intelligence, told public broadcaster NRK.
“But we are not completely stuck on that. We have to be open to the possibility that there may be other causes behind what has happened,” he said, speaking on the sidelines of a news conference.
Police were searching for the perpetrators but had “no suspects” yet, Larsen told journalists. Oslo police official Grete Lien Metlid appeared to confirm that an explosive had been thrown at the embassy. Asked by a reporter if the device used was a hand grenade, she mentioned, “We haven’t said anything about what was thrown.”
Investigators in Oslo have not ruled out the possibility that the explosion could be linked to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Police official Larsen said it was natural to view the incident in the context of the current security situation, adding that security measures at the site had been strengthened following the blast.
Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide had earlier stressed that “the security of diplomatic missions is extremely important to us.”
The Norwegian security service PST told AFP it had called in extra staff to assist police with the investigation.
Spokesman Martin Bernsen stressed there had been “no change” to the threat assessment level in the Scandinavian country, which has been at three on a five-point scale since November 2024. He refused to disclose whether any threats had been made against US interests in Norway prior to 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 across the Middle East have been placed on high alert amid American military operations in Iran, with several missions facing attacks as Tehran retaliates by targeting industrial and diplomatic sites.
Security around US embassies worldwide is typically tight, though it was not immediately clear what specific security measures were in place at the Oslo embassy at the time of the incident.
Several hours after the explosion, police announced that the area around the building was “safe” for residents and pedestrians.
What did people say when they heard the blast?
A 16-year-old identified only as Edvard told TV2 that he had been watching television when he heard the blast.
“My mother and I first thought it came from our house so we looked around a little, but then we saw the flashing lights outside the window and a ton of police,” he said.
“There were police dogs and drones and police with automatic weapons and helicopters in the air,” he said.
A group of three friends told TV2 that they were waiting for a taxi near the embassy when the explosion occurred.
One of them, Kristian Wendelborg Einung, said they felt three loud blasts that made the ground shake.
He added that after getting into their taxi, they drove past the site and saw the street outside the embassy filled with smoke. According to him, they reached the area before the police arrived and noticed a thick blanket of smoke, which he described as resembling dense fog.
