Norway has elevated its terrorism threat level to the second-highest tier, citing a heightened risk of attacks targeting Jewish and Israeli interests, the national police directorate announced on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
This move comes days after Danish police arrested two men suspected of detonating hand grenades near Israel's embassy in Copenhagen. Meanwhile, Swedish authorities are investigating a possible shooting incident near Israel’s diplomatic mission in Stockholm.
As a precautionary measure, Norwegian police officers, who typically do not carry firearms, will now be armed across the country, according to Tuesday’s announcement. This change comes after the PST security service decided to increase the threat level, the police directorate stated.
"PST raises the terror threat level in Norway from moderate to high as a result of the ongoing escalation of the conflict in the Middle East," the police said in their statement.
"It is primarily the threat to Jewish and Israeli targets that has been further intensified," the statement added.
The PST raised its risk assessment from level three (moderate) to level four (high) on its five-tier scale, where the highest level signifies imminent danger.
In 2021, a terrorist attack took place in Norway, when a man who had converted to Islam killed five people with a bow and arrows in the town of Kongsberg.