Sawt Falasteen - Possible terror motive in US embassy blast, say Norway police

The blast, which caused no injuries and minor material damage, occurred around 1:00 am (0000 GMT) at the entrance to the embassy's consular section.

Police did not provide details about what might have caused it, but did say 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.

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 replied: "We haven't said anything about what was thrown."

- Link to Middle East war? -

US embassies have been placed on high alert in the Middle East over American military operations in Iran and several have faced attacks as Tehran hits back at industrial and diplomatic targets.

Investigators in Oslo have not ruled out a possible link to the war in the Middle East.

"It is natural to see this in connection with the current security policy situation," Larsen said, adding that police had increased security at the scene after the attack.

Prime Minister 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."

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.

Investigators examined the scene overnight, while dogs, drones, and helicopters were brought in to search for the perpetrators, Oslo police said in a statement.

Security is normally high outside US embassies worldwide. It was not immediately known what security the Oslo embassy had at the time of the incident.

- Three 'bangs' -

Several hours after the blast, police declared the area around the building "safe" for residents and passersby.

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 meanwhile told TV2 they were waiting for a taxi near the embassy when the explosion went off.

"We felt three 'bangs' that made the ground shake," Kristian Wendelborg Einung said.

Once in their taxi, they drove past the scene and saw the street in front of the embassy covered in smoke.

"We arrived before the police. The blanket of smoke was very strange. It was like thick fog," he said.

M.AbuKhalil--SF-PST