An explosion at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway, early Sunday may have been a deliberate attack linked to the “current security situation,” the country’s police force has said.
Norwegian police said that they are in the early stages of the investigation and working with "multiple hypotheses."
"Given the current security situation, it is natural to consider whether this was a targeted attack on the American Embassy," police spokesperson Frode Larsen said at a news conference. "However, we have not committed to any single hypothesis."
Since the U.S. and Israel started their military campaign against Iran last week, several U.S. diplomatic facilities have been targeted by Iranian retaliatory strikes, including in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Police said they first received reports from neighbors at about 1:03 a.m. of a loud explosion near the embassy.
The blast caused minor damage to the public entrance of the embassy and there were no injuries, police in the Scandinavian nation said.
It was unclear what caused the blast and no one has been arrested in connection with the incident, but police are searching for one or several perpetrators and are cooperating closely with the embassy, Larsen said.
Authorities have deployed “great resources” in the area, including dogs, drones and a helicopter, police said.
“One of our hypotheses is that this is terrorism, but we are also exploring other options,” Larsen later told public broadcaster NRK, according to Reuters.
Justice Minister Astri Aas-Hansen told Norwegian press agency NTB it was an “unacceptable incident that we are taking very seriously.”
No further explosive devices have been found in the area, police said.
Video posted to social media after the explosion showed police vehicles and people in tactical gear outside the embassy.
Anna Gilbo, who lives near the compound, also took video from her home that showed smoke in the distance.
“There was a loud bang, and the whole house shook,” Gilbo said.
“There was a very thick layer of smoke on the street,” Sebastian Toerstad, a high school student who was driving past the embassy at the time of the explosion, told the Reuters news agency.
“There was some damage to the entrance,” Toerstad said.
Neither the embassy nor the State Department immediately responded to requests for more information. The Oslo Police District also did not respond to a request for more details. Police said they have received several tips from the public and are treating the investigation as a high priority.
