There has been a disastrous explosion outside a government building in the Norwegian city of Oslo. At least one explosion was a car bomb. Responsibility for the apparent attack has not been confirmed, but here are some speculations:
Earlier this month, a Norwegian prosecutor filed terrorism charges against an Iraqi-born cleric who had allegedly threatened the lives of Norwegian politicians. Mullah Krekar, the founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam, said in a news conference in 2010 that if he was deported from Norway he would be killed and, therefore, Norwegian politicians deserved the same fate, according to an AP report. The Norwegian government had considered deporting Krekar because he was seen as a national security threat.
Prior to the Iraq War, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell said Ansar al-Islam was the “sinister nexus between Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network.”
In July 2010, Norway arrested two alleged al Qaeda operatives who were allegedly plotting attacks similar to the attack planned by Najibullah Zazi on the New York City subway system. A third Norwegian resident was arrested in Germany in connection with the same alleged plot.
In 2006, Norwegian authorities held three men linked to an alleged plot to attack the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Oslo.
As part of NATO operations against the forces of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, two Norwegian fighter jets bombed Gadhafi’s Tripoli compound in April.
View some footage here.