Suspect in custody as experts carry out controlled explosion after device is found in Grønland area of city

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Norwegian police have carried out a controlled explosion of a “bomb-like device” in central Oslo and are holding a suspect in custody in an investigation led by security police.



Media at the scene described a loud bang early on Sunday shortly after Oslo’s bomb squad arrived with a remote-controlled robot. The area had been cordoned off by police on Saturday night.

“The noise from the blast was louder than our explosives themselves would cause,” a police spokesman said, adding that further investigation was needed to find out if the device had contained explosives.

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The device, measuring about 1ft (30cm) across, appeared to be capable of causing only a limited amount of damage. Forensics experts will examine fragments to figure out what it was.

Police have been on heightened alert since a truck ploughed into a crowd in Stockholm on Friday. Four people were killed and 15 injured in what police called an apparent terrorist attack.

Norwegian police detained a suspect but declined to give information about his identity. Norway’s police security service, PST, tweeted that it had taken over the investigation.

“We’re in a very early phase of the investigation,” Martin Bernsen, a PST spokesman, said, adding that more details were likely to come later on Sunday.

Police took away cordons put up overnight in the Grønland area and residents resumed normal Sunday activities, with shops and cafes open. There was no sign of police at the site.

Grønland is a multiethnic neighbourhood that is home to popular bars and restaurants, several mosques, and the city’s main police station. The police station is less than a mile away from where the device was found.

In 2011, rightwing extremist Anders Behring Breivik set off a car bomb in Oslo that killed eight people and destroyed Norway’s government headquarters, before going on a shooting rampage that killed 69 people at nearby Utøya island.