By Gwladys Fouche and Nora Buli
OSLO, 8 March (Reuters) – The United States embassy in Oslo was hit by 🏽 a strong explosion in the early hours of Sunday, causing minor damage but no injuries, in what may 🏽 have been a deliberate attack linked to the crisis in the Middle East, Norwegian police said.
“It is natural to see this in the context of the current security situation and that it could be a deliberately targeted attack on the US embassy,” Frode Larsen, head of the Oslo police investigation unit, said at a press conference.
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No suspect has been identified so far, but police are looking for one or more perpetrators and are cooperating closely with the embassy, Larsen said.
“One of our hypotheses is that it is terrorism, but we are also exploring other options,” Larsen later told public broadcaster NRK.
The explosion at the embassy complex in western Oslo occurred at 1 a.m. local time, sending thick smoke into the street near the entrance to the consular section, according to eyewitnesses.
The Norwegian government contacted US embassy authorities to advise that this was ‘an unacceptable act that we take very seriously,’ Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement.
‘The security of diplomatic missions is very important to us,’ he said.
Police said no other explosive devices were found in the area.
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The US embassy referred all questions to the US State Department when contacted by Reuters. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche, Nora Buli and Terje Solsvik in Oslo; additional reporting by Sergio Non in Washington)
