Attacker Killed After Stabbing Police Officer Near Israeli Embassy

Serbian police have killed an attacker who allegedly targeted a security officer outside the Israeli embassy in Belgrade in what outgoing Interior Minister Ivica Dacic described as a terrorist attack. According to Dacic, the attacker, whose identity had not been established at the time of the announcement, approached the officer with two knives while shouting “Allahu Akbar”. The Serbian Interior Ministry said the officer shot the attacker in self-defence during the incident shortly after midnight on Wednesday. The officer sustained a minor knife wound to the face, while no Israeli embassy personnel were injured, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry. Following the incident, authorities raised Serbia’s terrorism threat level to its highest status, known as a red alert, and increased security around sensitive locations. Heavily armed police were seen guarding the embassy entrance and patrolling nearby streets as security operations intensified.

Dacic said security services had been monitoring the attacker, who was suspected of supporting the Islamic State militant group. He reportedly cited an Instagram profile displaying a black flag and the group’s emblem, while suggesting the suspect was believed to be from the western Serbian city of Sabac. The minister said the heightened alert would mean stricter security checks and an increased police presence at critical infrastructure, sensitive sites and locations where large crowds gather. Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that embassy personnel were unharmed and said the incident was under investigation. Although attacks of this nature are rare in Serbia, the Israeli embassy in Belgrade was previously targeted in June 2024, when a crossbow-wielding attacker seriously wounded a police officer guarding the mission before being shot dead by police. Authorities have not yet publicly established all the details surrounding Wednesday’s incident.

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