Serbia Security: Embassy Attack Elevates Threat Level

A Serbian police officer shot and killed a knife-wielding assailant outside the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade overnight into October 28, after being wounded in the encounter, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said. Authorities classified the incident as a terrorist attack.

The assailant was a minor from Sabac, a town in western Serbia, whom Dacic said security agencies had already been monitoring as a supporter of Islamic State. The minister said the suspect's Instagram account displayed a black flag expressing support for the organization.

Dacic said the attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar" while assaulting the officer, and he described the guard's fatal shooting of the assailant as an act of self-defense. The officer sustained slight injuries in the knife attack.

Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed an "attempted terrorist attack" near its Belgrade embassy and said no personnel were injured. The incident came days after a key early parliamentary election in Serbia and one day after Israel held its own parliamentary vote.

Serbia raised its terrorism threat level to red alert, the highest category. Dacic said the designation requires more stringent security checks and a larger police presence at sensitive locations, including infrastructure facilities and places where large numbers of people gather.

The same embassy was the site of a June 2024 attack in which an assailant armed with a crossbow seriously wounded a Serbian police officer assigned to guard the premises; police then shot and killed that attacker, a 25-year-old convert to Islam from a village near Belgrade who had become radicalized.