While Thomassen was waiting to meet Støre in the lobby,[4] at least two Talibani militants forced their way into the Serena Hotel by killing the guards posted outside the main entrance using hand grenades.
[citation needed] Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg knew Thomassen personally, and was informed of his death while on his way to a previously planned television debate on Norway's involvement in Afghanistan.
[10] The next day, he devoted the first fifteen minutes of a previously planned lecture on environmental issues at Oslo Katedralskole (of which both Thomassen and Stoltenberg were alumni, though ten years apart) to the death of his friend.
[citation needed] Thomassen's death triggered controversy in Norway when it became known that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had ignored recommendations from PST and Norwegian military intelligence regarding the security arrangements for Støre's visit.
[15] One particularly controversial decision, which may have contributed to the Taliban's choice of target, was to publish Støre's itinerary, including the name of the hotel where he would be staying, in advance of the trip.
In October 2008, during his first visit to Afghanistan following the Serene attack, Foreign Minister Støre attended a ceremony at the Norwegian embassy where the Afghan education minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar unveiled the drawings for the Carsten Thomassen Library at the National Institute for Administration and Management, an elite institution to train future Afghan leaders, which will be built chiefly with the help of Norwegian funding.