Explosion at U.S. Embassy in Oslo: Explosion causes minor damage; investigation underway

An explosion occurred at the entrance to the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, the capital of Norway, early Sunday morning. There were no reports of casualties and the cause of the explosion is still under investigation, police said.According to a statement from Oslo police, the explosion occurred at around 1 am local time (5:30 am standard time).

Police incident commander Michael Dellemyr told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK that the explosion hit the entrance to the embassy’s consular area.“Around 1 a.m., we received multiple reports of explosions. We arrived quickly and confirmed that there had been an explosion at the U.S. Embassy,” Delemire said, adding that the damage appeared to be minimal.Authorities declined to give further details about the nature of the explosion. “We will not comment on the type of damage or a possible explosion as the investigation is in its early stages,” he said.Dellemyr later told Norway TV2 that police believed the incident may have been the work of an individual, but the investigation was ongoing. Police are currently speaking to witnesses and a bomb squad has been deployed at the scene.Police confirmed they were in contact with officials from the US Embassy and had established a heavy security presence in the area following the explosion.Residents living near the embassy reported hearing loud explosions. One witness, 16-year-old Edvard, told TV2 he initially thought the sound was coming from his own house.“My mother and I thought it was coming from our house at first, but then we saw flashing lights outside the window and a lot of police,” he said, describing the presence of police dogs, drones, armed police and helicopters.Authorities cordoned off a large area around the embassy and stopped vehicles approaching the site, local media reported.The incident comes as U.S. diplomatic missions remain on high alert in several regions, following recent U.S. military actions against Iran that raised fears of retaliatory attacks.However, Delemir said there was currently no indication that the Oslo explosion was related to the conflict.