Norway police don’t rule out terror in US embassy blast but stress investigation is in early stages

2026-03-08 - 13:13

Norwegian police said they weren’t ruling out a terrorism link to an explosion at the US embassy in Oslo early Sunday that caused only minor damage, but the investigation was still in its early stages. The blast comes at a time of heightened security for US embassies and consulates around the world as Israel and the United States conduct a rapidly escalating bombing campaign against Iran. Multiple US diplomatic buildings in Gulf kingdoms that host American troops have been targeted by Iranian retaliatory strikes, including in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. It is not known whether the blast in Oslo is linked in any way to events in the Middle East. “We’ve determined that an explosion hit the American embassy,” Oslo police spokesperson Mikael Dellemyr told public broadcaster NRK, adding that the blast occurred at the entry to the compound’s consular section. Frode Larsen, head of the joint investigation and intelligence unit, said it is “natural to view this in the context of the current security situation, and that it is a targeted attack against the American embassy.” “But we have not locked ourselves into just that one hypothesis,” Larsen said at a press conference in Oslo on Sunday. Asked if the blast was linked to terrorism, Larsen said “one of the hypotheses is that it is terrorism,” but reiterated that police were not “entirely locked into that.” Eyewitnesses reported a loud explosion near the embassy compound in western Oslo at around 1 a.m. An earlier police statement said there were no reports of anyone injured. Anna Gilbo told CNN she was at home with friends when she heard a blast and rushed to the window to see “a cloud of smoke” coming from the building. “I was watching TV and hear a loud bang while the whole house shook. There was a search going on for a while after the explosion which worried my friends and I, but it feels like the threat is over,” she added. Sebastian Toerstad, an 18-year-old school student, recalled “a very thick layer of smoke” on the street as he drove past the embassy at the time of the incident. “There was some damage to the entrance,” he told the Reuters news agency. A search for the perpetrators is ongoing, while no further explosive devices had been found in the area, authorities confirmed. CNN has reached out to the embassy and the US State Department, as well as Norwegian police and emergency services for comment. CNN’s James Frater and Billy Stockwell contributed reporting.