Three brothers arrested in Norway over bomb attack on US embassy in Oslo 

Norwegian police say they have arrested three brothers suspected of carrying out Sunday’s “terror bombing” attack on the US embassy in Oslo.

The unnamed men, all Norwegian citizens in their 20s with Iraqi heritage, were taken into custody in the Norwegian capital on Wednesday afternoon.

Police lawyer Christian Hatlo told reporters the brothers were suspected of deliberately targeting the embassy with a powerful improvised explosive device (IED), with the intention of killing or causing serious harm.

None of the three had previously come to police attention.

Investigators believe one brother planted the bomb, while the other two played supporting roles in the plot. None had been questioned by the time of Wednesday’s news conference.

The blast struck in the early hours of Sunday morning, at the entrance to the embassy’s consular section in western Oslo.

A US official, speaking to The Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the investigation, said the device had been concealed inside a backpack.

Witnesses described the street filling with thick smoke following the explosion. There were no casualties. Police are examining whether the attack was carried out on behalf of a foreign government.

“We are still working from several hypotheses,” Hatlo said. “One of them is whether this is an order from a government entity; this is quite natural, given the target and the security situation the world is in today.”

A video uploaded to the embassy’s Google Maps page around the time of the blast, which was since removed, appeared to show Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

According to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, the person who posted it wrote in Farsi: “God is great. We are victorious.”

Police have opened a separate investigation into the video.

Alireza Jahangiri, Iran’s ambassador to Norway, on Tuesday denied any involvement, saying in an interview with Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang that it was “unacceptable” that Iran was “singled out”.

On Wednesday, Norway’s Justice Minister Astri Aas-Hansen welcomed the arrests, describing them as a breakthrough.

The country’s security service PST had warned as recently as last month that Iran, which it considers one of the principal threats to Norway, could use criminal networks as proxy actors to carry out operations on its behalf.

The attack comes as European nations remain on heightened alert following a series of incidents tied to escalating conflict in the Middle East, where US and Israeli forces have been conducting air strikes on Iran.