An explosion was heard near the Norwegian capital's Oslomet university on Tuesday evening, after which police were dispatched and conducted a controlled detonation of another explosive device, a hand grenade, which was found at the scene.
Investigators believe the incident was likely the result of what they called "violence as a service", where the youths might have acted under orders.
"The police have detained extremely young boys. Two of them are only 13 years old," Police Commissioner Ida Melbo Øystese told a press conference.
"We are currently working under the hypothesis that they (the suspects) may have taken on a violence-related assignment on behalf of others," she added.
Because the suspects are younger than 15, the age of criminal responsibility in Norway, social services took charge of them.
Norway has a low crime rate but has recently suffered gang violence spilling over from neighbouring Sweden, which in recent years has struggled to rein in a surge in shootings and bombings.
In both countries, there is a growing trend among criminal groups to use young people who evade prosecution due to their age.
According to TV2, one of the 13-year-old suspects allegedly received 30,000 kroner for his involvement.
"At this stage, we believe that it (the grenade attack) was directed at premises near the scene, but not directly at individuals," Grete Lien Metlid, head of the intelligence and investigations section at Oslo police, said.
Only two of the three suspects are directly linked to the explosion, she said.
The police have not ruled out the possibility of additional arrests.
The incident was initially alerted to public just after 9pm on Tuesday when police said residents in the area should stay away from windows and that the public should avoid the area.
The alert was issued because police believed undetonated explosives had been discovered.
During the police response, an emergency warning or nødvarsel was issued. This is an alert sent by police or civil defence authorities to everyone’s phone within a specified geographical area.
Comments