Police shot dead a knifeman who attacked an officer on guard outside the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia.
The attacker, clad all in black, shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ (‘God is great’) as he opened the door of a guard house in front of the embassy and rushed at the police officer with two knives.
Serbia’s Higher Public Prosecution Office, referring to the officer by his initials of DS, said in a statement: “The unidentified person threw one knife in the direction of DS, hitting him in the left cheek. After that, DS took out his service weapon and fired several shots at the attacker, killing him on the spot.”
Serbian authorities have described the incident as a “terrorist attack”.
A member of Serbia's Gendarmerie stands guard at the entrance to the Israeli embassy in Belgrade on October 28, 2026, . (Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images
A spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry told JNS: “Local police neutralised the attacker and there were no casualties among the employees of the mission, which was closed at that time of night. The matter is under investigation by the relevant authorities.”
Local media in Serbia quoted the country’s interior minister, Ivica Dačić, as saying that police had killed a suspected Islamic State terrorist after he stabbed and lightly wounded a local officer who was guarding the Israeli embassy in Belgrade.
“A minor, so far unidentified … shouting ‘Allahu Akbar,’ attacked the member of Gendarmerie and attacked him with two knives,”
Serbia’s Radio 021 quoted Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dačić as saying in a statement. He added that the police officer, who was lightly wounded, “liquidated” the assailant in “self-defence.”
The Associated Press quoted Dačić as saying that police were treating the incident as a terrorist attack.
Security officials raised the terror threat to the highest level in Serbia and police presence has been boosted at key locations in Serbia, the report also said.
“Given that the terrorist attack took place on our territory, as the Minister of Internal Affairs responsible for this, I have raised the level of the terrorist threat to the highest possible level; namely to the red level,” Dačić said, according to AP.
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