OSLO, March 9 (Reuters) – Norwegian police are searching for a suspect seen on surveillance footage after a weekend explosion at the U.S. embassy in Oslo, investigators said on Monday, with a possible link to the Iran war among the lines of inquiry.
The early Sunday morning blast damaged the entrance to the embassy’s consular section, sending thick smoke into the street but causing no injuries.
“The investigation so far has shown that this was an improvised explosive device,” the Oslo police said in a statement, adding that the IED had caused a “powerful blast”.
The suspect has not been identified, police said.
POLICE STUDY KHAMENEI VIDEO ON GOOGLE MAPS
Images released by the police showed a hooded person, whose face was not visible, wearing dark clothes and carrying a bag or rucksack.
Police said on Sunday that one hypothesis was that the incident was “an act of terrorism”, but that other possible motives were also being explored.
“None of the police’s hypotheses have been weakened or strengthened so far, and we are still early in the investigation,” the police said on Monday.
Among the possible leads was a 15-second video published on the U.S. embassy page on Google Maps around the time of the incident.
The video shows Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leaving a room, with writings in Farsi, including the words “Where did he go?”, “he wanted to leave anyway” and “he’s gone”.
Khamenei was killed in an air strike on February 28 at the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
“The police are aware of the video that was published on Google Maps around the time of the incident and are conducting further investigations,” the Oslo police said.
Europe has been on alert for possible attacks amid U.S. and Israeli air strikes on Iran and Iranian drone and missile attacks on Israel and U.S. targets in the Middle East.
On Monday, a synagogue in the Belgian city of Liege was damaged by a blast that authorities called an antisemitic attack. It was not clear who was behind it.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwlady Fouche and Philippa Fletcher)
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