Police release images of Oslo US embassy explosion suspect
Alys Davies
Police in Norway have released pictures of a suspect linked to an explosion outside the US's embassy in Norway's capital Oslo on Sunday.
Two heavily pixelated images taken from surveillance footage show a person with their face concealed, dressed in dark clothing and carrying a backpack.
Police said in a statement on Monday that their investigation had so far showed the explosion was caused by an improvised device that was placed at the building's entrance. The blast caused minor damage and no injuries were reported.
Police previously said it was possible the explosion was an act of terrorism. They said in their latest update that they had no developments on the attacker's motive.
As well as the images, investigators were also examining a video published on Google Maps around the time of the incident, police said.
The now-deleted video featured Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, local media reported. He was assassinated last month during joint US-Israeli strikes on Tehran.
Police said the investigation into the embassy blast was being treated as high priority and that dogs, drones and helicopters had been used to carry out investigations at the scene of the explosion.
They appealed to anyone with information about the suspect, as well as anyone who noticed anything unusual in the area between midnight and 02:00 local time (01:00 GMT) on Sunday, to contact them.
Emergency services were dispatched to the embassy, on Morgedalsvegen street in the Ullern district of Oslo, at about 01:00 on Sunday.
Following the incident, photos posted on social media showed shattered glass in the snow outside the entrance to the embassy's consular section, cracks in a glass door and dark marks on a tiled floor.
Norwegian authorities described the incident as "unacceptable", with Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide stressing that "the security of diplomatic missions is very important to us".
A US State Department spokesperson said it too was investigating the incident.
UzorIyke: Which country do we have a face to face battle before ?? Our troops died when they're on peace keeping mission.
I'm going to first give you the philosophical basis before I give you the incidents.
You have a house and your house has doors, walls and gates, why? It's to prevent armed robbers from coming to rob you.
It's the same with countries. Resource rich countries need armed forces to prevent other countries from invading their land and stealing their resources.
1) Cameroon: There were very many military clashes between Nigeria and Cameroon over the Bakasi Peninsula from around 1975 till the late 1990s. Cameroonian gendarmes would attack Nigeria, the Nigerian military would repel them, etc.
I had a friend in the Navy that said that they made many requests to Abacha for a new generator for their ship but they didn't receive any response. Then Cameroon attacked again and they got a brand new generator. They didn't know where it came from (Nigeria was under sanctions), but I heard rumours that it came through the Chagourys.
Anyway, there were many clashes, many troops died due to th3 Bakasi issue. It was because Cameroon realised that they couldn't take it by force, due to our military, that they eventually went to court.
2) Chad: Chadian forces invaded Borno in April 1983. President Shagari ordered the 3rd Armoured Division to chase them away. The GOC was Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari did not just chase them away, he invaded Chad.
Foreign countries put pressure on Shagari to withdraw from Chad.
3) Tongeji Island: It is an oil rich island in Ogun State. Benenoise gendarmes have often invaded the island and harrassed the locals. The Nigerian Navy had to build a base there.
The first statement in your post is a lie. Nigeria had many international threats between 1960 and 1999 and Nigerian troops were involved in many such actions (and some died in battle).
UzorIyke: They're also correct, Nigeria did not have international threat, since 1960 till date any problems we have with foreign power we usually solve them diplomatically or through international courts around the world, moreover a good and well equipped police can stop the internal security challenges we're having today like the book haram you mentioned. Nevertheless since we have money to acquire military equipment, I'm happy that they did it, because tomorrow is pregnant, no one knows what it holds. Thanks.
Mynd44: I have not mentioned military spending or defense budgets. I agree with increased capacity of the Navy (the falcon eye system has done wonders), upgrading the capacity of aircraft's, tanks and personnel carriers along with equipping soldiers better but when people put an air defense system above all this, I don’t agree.
Air defense system's effectiveness is low even in places like America, China and Russia. They rely more on actually aircrafts that "hitting a bullet with a bullet" mentality that an air defense system does.
I am not saying that air defense systems should be above other equipment. They go hand in hand.
And although anti-missile missiles are once again popular (like they were in 1991) because or the war in Iran, they are not the only component of an air defence system.
MTRACON is being developed to provide total military radar coverage of Nigeria and this is also so that war planes can respond to threats. That's why I included radar systems in my list.
helinues: Boss, rest, not all arguments you can win after all, I am not alone with my opinion on this thread
We need improvement in our defense system whether ground or air
EOD
You argument is like someone saying that he has bought a car and another person replying that it has not stopped Nepa from taking light. There is no correlation.
Mynd44: Any country whose aircraft can reach us without us taking those aircraft out will easily sidestep whatever air defense system we have. Note that no country on the continent is on that list.
Iran spent billions on air defense, didn't stop then from getting bombed, same with Isreal, Saudi Arabia, UAE etc
In 1999 many people (including Professor Wole Soyinka) said that Nigeria did not need a military. They said that nobody was coming to attack us and that the military only stage coups. I was alarmed.
Today, without our military, Boko Haram would have been in control of Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Abuja, Enugu and other cities.
The point is that you don't prepare for what is on ground today, you prepare for what could be on ground tomorrow.
Iran spent a lot on its military, it didn't stop them from getting bombed, but it has so far stopped them from collapsing and it has made the exercise painful for its enemies (which increases its chances of survival).
helinues: Kidnappers, bandits are they not criminals? Must all the criminals be listed in one comments? Go through this thread and see people relaying same thing I said above.
The point it, our defense system whether air or ground have been useless because if not, the miscreants who are just in their low number can't be causing havoc is some part of the countries.
So you use air defence system for armed robbers, because armed robbers are criminals.
So if an armed robber robs your house then it means that air defence system has failed?
People are just desperate to write something negative, even if they don't understand what they are writing about.
First it was that Nigeria did not have air defence systems (and they mocked the country for not having air defence systems), which is a lie
Now it's that Nigeria does not need air defence systems.
naptu2: There is a big difference between these statements:
1) I don't know.
2) I have not heard.
And
3) There is no. . .
Nigerians enjoy saying bad things about their country and one of the ways they do this is to say the 3rd statement, when the true statements would have been numbers 1 or 2.
I'll give you an example with an old Nairaland thread.
A person from the UK came to Nairaland to ask if Nigeria has privacy laws. He was thinking of starting a detective agency and he wanted to know the limitations that the law would place on him.
My God, you should have seen the responses! "There is no such thing in Nigeria", "Have Nigerians ever heard of privacy"? One even said that it was a funny question.
Meanwhile, the right to private family life is right there in the constitution (which is quite relevant because the person was talking about things like cheating spouse, etc). Of course I posted the relevant sections on the thread. It was only me and two other people that were making sense on the thread.
One of the people that said that there were no privacy laws in Nigeria refused to take correction. She was all over the place, writing all kinds of weird things. One of the other guys decided to argue with her and force her to admit that she was wrong, but I had no energy for that kind of thing.
The latest example, in the past few years, have to do with Nigeria's air defence systems.
There are people that take joy in proclaiming that Nigeria has no air defence system. Meanwhile, I knew Nigeria's air defence systems 40 years ago o! Yet we are in 2026 and these funny people are not ashamed to ignorantly proclaim that Nigeria has no air defence system.
Anyway, my curiosity began in the early 1980s when someone that was in the Navy told me that the Navy's surface to air missiles were kept at a certain location in Apapa.
Of course I've told you many times about Kainji Dam. Military governments were obsessed with protecting our national assets and so I knew 40 years ago (1986) that there was an air base in Kainji, there was an army base there and several of these air defence systems were placed at Kainji to protect the dam from air attacks. That's 40 years ago o!
In fact do you remember the German air defence system that I often post about here (the anti-spam bot hates its name)? One of the reasons why I liked it was because it reminded me of one of the Nigerian air defence systems.
Remember that this was during the Cold War, so we had some systems from the west (France and Germany) and some systems from the east (Soviet Union).
For example, we had the Roland Air Defence System (anti-missile missile) from the west and the Shilka Air Defence System (anti-missile and anti-air craft gun).
helinues: Boss, you are the one shifting here oo. You can't say you haven't read about the bandits using drones for surveillance, probably for attacking self.
Infact , I saw a news of a man arrested for being the supplier of drones to the bandits
So how should Nigeria protect her territory with drones from terrorists? Ground system or air system?
I am not shifitng anything, you shifted.
Initially you mentioned kidnappers. Where have you heard that people were kidnapped using drones??
So you shifted to bandits and I asked you how many times have you heard of bandits using drones and what type of drones were they using.
The use of drones by bandits is a very recent phenomenon and the bandits are using cheap quodcopters, not sophisticated drones. The quodcopters can easily be shot down with simple rifles. It's got nothing to do with the air defence systems that are on this thread
In 1999 many people (including Professor Wole Soyinka) said that Nigeria did not need a military. They said that nobody was coming to attack us and that the military only stage coups. I was alarmed.
Today, without our military, Boko Haram would have been in control of Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Abuja, Enugu and other cities.
helinues: What exactly is the usefulness of those defense system when kidnappers are now kidnapping people at will not to talk of the miscreants bandits
If we have something to protect the citizens but can't use it effectively, it's not different from not having
How do air defence systems protect against kidnappers?? Are the kidnappers using planes??
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is taking a major step toward enhancing its aerial security by exploring advanced Chinese air defense systems.
A delegation led by Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar, Chief of the Air Staff, recently concluded a high-level visit to China aimed at expanding bilateral defense cooperation and improving Nigeria’s radar and missile defense infrastructure.
The visit, which took place between April 20 and 25, included stops in Beijing, Hefei, Nanjing, and Xi’an. According to the NAF, the delegation held meetings with senior executives from China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) and China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO), two of the country’s primary defense contractors.
Discussions reportedly focused on technologies essential to the implementation of the Military Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (MTRACON) initiative. As part of the engagement, Chinese officials showcased a range of systems including high-energy laser counter-drone technologies and the Sky Dragon air defense system, which has already been exported to other African and Asian countries.
In a statement, Air Vice Marshal Suleiman Kabir Usman, who represented the Chief of the Air Staff during parts of the visit, praised the technical capabilities of the Chinese systems. He noted that sustained engagement with Chinese defense firms would be essential to ensure the long-term viability of any procurement or cooperation programs.
“The visit underscores the NAF’s commitment to leveraging global partnerships and cutting-edge technology to strengthen Nigeria’s defense capabilities,” the NAF said in a release.
The delegation also explored opportunities for training Nigerian Air Force cadets in China and discussed plans for a domestic Radar Maintenance and Research Facility to reduce long-term dependency on foreign technical support.
China continues to expand its defense footprint across Africa, aggressively marketing missile defense systems as part of its broader push for military-industrial influence on the continent.
Chinese, European firms battle for Nigeria’s strategic air defense and radar contract
June 5, 2025
Nigeria is intensifying efforts to modernize its air defense and radar systems by evaluating advanced solutions from Chinese and European firms to address evolving security threats in its airspace and the broader West African region.
⚫️ Nigeria is modernizing its air defense and radar systems to address regional security threats.
⚫️ European and Chinese firms are competing for the contract to provide radar technologies.
⚫️Implementing MTRACON may enhance regional airspace security and cooperation in West Africa.
Nigeria's plans to solidify and improve its air defense and radar systems is a step further in realizing its Military Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (MTRACON) initiative, which is aimed at establishing a robust, integrated network of surveillance systems capable of detecting, tracking, and neutralizing aerial threats in real time.
The MTRACON initiative is central to Nigeria’s ambition to close long-standing gaps in radar coverage, particularly over remote and high-risk areas vulnerable to smuggling, insurgent drone incursions, and potential airspace violations.
Designed as a multi-layered system, it combines fixed and mobile radar installations with modern command and control centers, allowing for coordinated air defense responses and better situational awareness across Nigeria’s vast territory.
Military Africa reports that four major defense firms, which include Leonardo (Italy), Rheinmetall (Germany), Norinco (China), and Indra (Spain), are vying for a lucrative contract to supply advanced surveillance and detection technologies.
The report highlights Nigeria’s pressing need to upgrade its radar systems, as its existing air defense platforms, such as the Roland II and ZSU-23-4 Shilka, are no longer effective against contemporary aerial threats.
Coupled with persistent internal security issues such as insurgencies and threats to vital infrastructure, these weaknesses have elevated the MTRACON project to a top national priority.
Strategic defense bids underway
Rheinmetall is promoting its Skyguard 3 system to replace Nigeria’s ageing air defense platforms, offering protection against modern threats like cruise missiles and UAVs.
The company has engaged with Nigerian officials on broader defense needs, including ammunition supplies, in partnership with the defense Industries Corporation (DICON).
China’s Norinco is deeply involved in Nigeria’s MTRACON initiative, proposing radar and air defense infrastructure alongside talent development and a Radar Maintenance and Research Facility, highlighting a long-term commitment to local defense self-reliance.
Indra showcased integrated air traffic control, communication, radar, and counter-UAV solutions during a delegation visit that included Nigeria’s Chief of Air Staff, emphasizing support for both military and civilian needs.
Italy’s Leonardo is pitching its RAT 31DL/M, a NATO-standard long-range AESA radar capable of tracking multiple targets simultaneously and operating effectively under electronic jamming, making it a strong contender for Nigeria’s airspace security upgrade.
With Nigeria serving as a key military and economic power in the region, the implementation of MTRACON is expected to reinforce regional airspace management and provide early warning capabilities that could benefit neighbouring states facing similar asymmetric threats.
Photos 1 and 2) This is the HQ-9 medium and long range air defence system. Nigeria does not yet have this, but we are in discussions with China to buy them. What I have been searching for is an old system that is similar to this, but I can't remember its name.
Photo 3) The discussions about procuring the HQ-9 took place side by side with the discussions to acquire the Wing Loong II drone. We've already gotten the drone, all that's left is the air defence system.
The Nigerian Government is looking to modernise its air defence system. The minister of state for defence, Bello Matawale visited China where he was shown the Sky Dragon Air Defence System that Nigeria has expressed an interest in.
The former chief of the air staff, Air Marshal Hassan Bala Abubakar also visited China and he was also shown the systems as you can see in the photo below.
These are medium and long range air defence systems.
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