Knife attack occurred near the Israeli embassy in Belgrade - attacker was shot dead
Kyiv • UNN
An unidentified man armed with two knives attacked a Serbian police officer near the Israeli embassy. The attacker was shot dead, and the threat level was raised to the highest level.
A man with knives was killed by police after attacking an officer near the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia. UNN reports this, citing Sky News.
Details
Serbian police said that an unidentified underage man who was shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great" in Arabic) was shot dead shortly after midnight.
Police are treating the incident as a "terrorist attack," Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said, adding that the terrorism threat level had been raised to the highest level and that police presence at key locations had been strengthened.
The police officer, who is a member of an elite unit, sustained a minor facial injury, Dačić said.
The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade said that an unidentified person dressed in black opened the door of the guardhouse in front of the embassy and, armed with two knives, lunged at a police officer identified only by the initials DS.
"The unidentified person threw one knife in the direction of DS, striking him in the left cheek. DS then drew his service weapon and fired several shots at the attacker, killing him at the scene," the statement said.
The police officer's actions were justified and carried out in self-defense, the statement added.
The minister said that security services had been monitoring the attacker, who was believed to be from the western Serbian city of Šabac.
He added that the man was a supporter of the "Islamic State" group and "had a black flag in support of the 'Islamic State' on his Instagram account."
Photographs from the scene showed that the area around the embassy had been cordoned off with police tape, while armed officers stood nearby.
The attack occurred several days after Aleksandar Vučić, a longtime pro-Russian former president of Serbia, lost an election to a youth movement following nearly two years of protests against him.
Admitting defeat in a closely contested struggle, Vučić urged his supporters to avoid unrest.
But since a new government has not yet been formed, Vučić and his allies still control the police, the outlet notes.
On Tuesday, Israel also held parliamentary elections in which, according to exit polls, there was no clear winner.
In June 2024, an attacker with a crossbow also wounded a Serbian police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade. The attacker was shot dead by the officer.
The Israeli Embassy is located next to the U.S. Embassy in an upscale district of the Serbian capital. It is guarded by an elite police unit whose officers are armed with automatic weapons.
Serbia maintains close relations with Israel.