Police in Norway said they were investigating an explosion early Sunday outside the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, the capital, after receiving reports of a “loud bang” or explosion around 1 a.m., according to Oslo police.
Oslo police said there were no injuries reported. Police later said they were examining what they described as an incendiary device, and investigators believed the embassy was the target, while searching for the perpetrators and their motive.
Frode Larsen, leader of the Oslo police joint unit for investigation and intelligence, said investigators had found damage at the embassy’s entrance but had made no arrests. He said investigators were working based on multiple hypotheses, adding that given the country’s current security situation it was “natural to consider whether this was a targeted attack on the American Embassy,” but that police had not committed to any single hypothesis.
Astrid Aas-Hansen, Norway’s minister of justice and public security, described the incident as serious. She said, “This is an unacceptable incident that is being treated with the utmost seriousness,” and that police said they were investigating with significant resources while “nothing indicates the situation poses any danger to the public.”
Local media reported that people nearby said the street was blanketed in thick smoke after the blast. Police said they were seeking to talk to witnesses as part of the investigation.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the incendiary device was inside a backpack and detonated outside the entrance to the Consular Affairs office at the embassy. Norwegian police also brought in additional personnel from PST, the Norwegian police security service, but communication adviser Martin Bernsen said it had not changed Norway’s terror threat level.
The U.S. Embassy in Oslo referred media inquiries to the U.S. State Department, which said it was aware of the incident and was opening its own investigation. In a statement, the department thanked Norwegian authorities for supporting the investigation.