An attacker wielding two knives assaulted a guard at the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade before he was fatally shot, Serbia’s interior minister said on Wednesday, in what he said officials were treating as a suspected terrorist attack,
The guard, a member of an elite unit assigned to guard the embassy, killed the attacker and sustained minor wounds, Ivica Dacic, the country’s interior minister, said on Serbia’s national broadcaster, RTS.
Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement on social media that no embassy staff members were injured, and noted that the attack occurred late at night when it was closed.
The attacker shouted “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” in Arabic, Mr. Dacic said. The phrase is commonplace in Arabic, but has been seized on by jihadists who claim that Islam justifies their attacks in the name of God.
Serbia’s security services had been monitoring the assailant, a minor, before the attack, and believed he was a supporter of the Islamic State, Mr. Dacic said. He added that on a profile on social media he had “displayed a black flag and symbols of that organization.”
The attacker, identified by his initials, N.N., was dressed in black and approached the embassy after midnight, the Serbian prosecutor’s office said in a statement. He opened the door of the security booth outside the embassy and lunged at the guard. He threw a knife at the guard, wounding his cheek. The officer responded by firing several shots at the attacker, killing him on the spot.
The prosecutor’s office said an investigation was underway in the latest attack, and that early findings showed that the guard who killed the minor had acted in self defense.
In June 2024, an attacker wielding a crossbow attacked the Israeli embassy in Serbia, injuring a guard, according to a government statement at the time.
The post Knife-Wielding Attacker Fatally Shot Outside Israeli Embassy in Serbia appeared first on New York Times.
