OSLO - A car went up in flames outside the Iranian embassy in Norway Friday in what police said was a criminal act targeting the mission. No one was injured in the attack, in which three unidentified people set fire to a Mercedes car parked less than one metre from one of the embassy gates at 0430 GMT, according to witnesses. They then broke a window in the embassy and emptied a fire extinguisher into a room where one member of staff was sleeping. "We believe that the aim of this act was to cause injury," the head of the central Oslo crime squad, Stein Hustad said. Police were still uncertain whether the motive was political or personal.
| Or any combination of the two... |
The three got away on foot, but police believe that they have already identified one of the attackers and hope to make arrests later on Friday, Hustad said.
FOLLOWUP: From Aftenposten...
A man has told Aftenposten's evening edition that he was responsible for the attack on the Iranian embassy in Oslo and he burned his own car, an antique Mercedes Benz, to protest Iran's role in the prevention of a Palestinian state. "Iran supports Hezbollah and al-Qaeda. They are ruining the formation of a Palestinian state," the man told Aftenposten Aften. The man also admitted to throwing the white powder, which came from a fire extinguisher, into the embassy. This is not the first time the man has protested in this fashion. On April 31, 1999 he set his own car ablaze in front of the Israeli embassy, his third protest action there.
| Doesn't seem to care who he protests, does he? As long as he's protesting... |
The man said that he would turn himself in to police and that he acted alone, even though eyewitnesses claimed to have seen three men running from the scene. |