First-half goals from Zvjezdan Misimovic and Zlatan Muslimovic did the damage for the visitors, who leapfrog their opponents to take third place in Group C.

Norway's only reply came from a John Carew penalty, and Aage Hareide's men now face a daunting trip to Turkey on Wednesday as they bid to keep their qualification hopes alive.

The match got off to a controversial start when English referee Mike Riley suspended play moments after kick-off because of flares being thrown onto the pitch at the Ullevaal stadium.

Both teams were ordered into the dressing rooms due to the thick smoke, with the fixture held up for over 30 minutes while police dealt with the problem.

The decision was taken to start the match from scratch, and when play again got underway the Bosnians were the first to settle with Mirko Hrgovic twice threatening Thomas Myhre's goal in the first 10 minutes.

Norway then had the ball in the back of the net after 13 minutes when Erik Hagen headed in Morten Gamst Pedersen's throw-in.

However, referee Riley disallowed the effort for a foul on Bosnia-Herzegovina goalkeeper Adnan Guso, and the chance came back to haunt the hosts five minutes later when Blaz Sliskovic's men opened the scoring.

Fredrik Stromstad conceded a free-kick with a challenge on Muslimovic, and striker Misimovic made the most of the opportunity by curling the ball into the top left corner from 30 yards.

The Scandinavians pushed hard to get back on level terms, but both John Arne Riise and Carew were denied by impressive saves from Guso.

And Bosnia-Herzegovina doubled their lead in the 33rd minute thanks to Muslimovic's strike into the bottom left corner.

Norway finally reduced arrears five minutes after the interval when Pedersen was felled in the area by Adnan Custovic.

Carew stepped up to take the resulting penalty, and hammered the ball into the centre of the net with Guso diving to his right.

And substitute Steffen Iversen should have salvaged a point for his side two minutes from time, but pushed Pedersen's free-kick wide from just six yards out.