An explosion at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway, early on Sunday may have been a deliberate attack linked to the “current security situation,” the country’s police force has said.
The blast occurred at the embassy compound at around 1 a.m. local time.
It caused minor damage but no injuries, police in the Scandinavian nation said.
“It’s natural to see this in the context of the current security situation and that this could be an attack deliberately targeting the U.S. Embassy,” police spokesperson Frode Larsen said at a news conference.
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.
“One of our hypotheses is that this is terrorism, but we are also exploring other options,” he later told public broadcaster NRK, according to Reuters.
There was minor damage to the public entrance of the embassy, located on the outskirts of Oslo, Michael Dellemyr, the on-site incident commander, told the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.
Justice Minister Astri Aas-Hansen told Norwegian press agency NTB it was an “unacceptable incident that we are taking very seriously.”
Authorities have deployed “great resources” in the area, including dogs, drones and a helicopter, police said in a statement following the blast.
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.