Knife-wielding minor attacks guard at Israeli embassy in Belgrade, is killed; Serbian FM: ‘Terror attack’

Serbian police say that an unidentified assailant attacked a guard with knives outside the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade and was killed just after midnight.

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic says that police are treating the incident as a “terrorist attack.” He raised the terror threat to the highest level and stepped up police presence at key locations.

Dacic says that “a minor, so far unidentified… shouting Allahu Akbar, attacked the member of Gendarmerie and attacked him with two knives.”

He adds that the police officer “liquidated” the assailant in “self-defense” and was lightly wounded.

Dacic says that Serbia’s security agencies had been monitoring the attacker, who he says was a supporter of the Islamic State group. Dacic says that “[the attacker] kept the black flag in support of the Islamic State on his Instagram” account.

There is no comment from the Foreign Ministry.

In June 2024, an attacker with a crossbow wounded a Serbian police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade. The assailant was shot and killed by a guard.