Norway police probe blast near Israeli embassy in Oslo, detain teenager

Norway’s police are investigating a blast in the country’s capital, Oslo, near the Israeli embassy, and have detained a teenager during the investigation.

A blast was reported in Oslo on Monday and, later that day, a second explosive device was found that the police blew up in a controlled explosion, as per Reuters.

The location of these incidents was just 500 metres from the royal palace and Israeli embassy. No one was injured in either of the blasts.

The police said that the device found in the second instance was a “military-style” hand grenade, as per the news agency.

“We’ve apprehended one suspect and are intensively seeking more information as well as other people. Our hypothesis is that it is criminals who have an agenda against other criminals, but we cannot rule out anything,” said Brian Skotne, the police officer in charge at the scene, as per the agency.

Norway’s media have reported the police have detain a 13-year-old in connection with the incident. They did not name the suspect.

Incidentally, these blasts occurred a day after suspected Russian drones’ sightings in Oslo and Denmark’s capital Copenhagen led to the shutdown of airports in these cities for several hours. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Russia was behind the incident that she called the “most serious attack so far against Danish critical infrastructure”.

In recent years, there have been a slew of attacks and attempted attacks at Israeli embassies and diplomatic missions in Europe.

In August, three persons were arrested after the Israeli embassy was vandalised in The Hague, the Netherlands. In April, a man with a knife tried to enter the Israeli embassy in London.

Last year, on October 1-2, unidentified gunmen opened fire at the Israeli embassy at Stockholm, Sweden, and a grenade was found near the embassy in February. In Copenhagen, two grenades detonated near the Israeli embassy. Three persons were arrested in the case.