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Serbia’s outgoing Interior Minister Ivica Dacic described the incident as a terrorist attack after a 16-year-old rushed at a gendarmerie officer outside the Israeli embassy in Belgrade shortly after midnight on Wednesday. The teenager shouted “Allahu Akbar” while attacking the officer with two knives inflicting a minor wound to the policeman’s left cheek according to Dacic. The officer identified only as D.S. responded by firing his service weapon and killing the assailant on the spot the Belgrade Higher Public Prosecution Office stated. Prosecutors qualified the officer’s actions as justified self-defense.
The attacker who remains unidentified was a Serbian citizen from the western town of Sabac and had been monitored by security services as a known supporter of the Islamic State group. Dacic said the teenager kept the black flag of the Islamic State on his Instagram account. “Although the attacker’s identity has not been established our services followed him and it’s known that he was a supporter of ISIS” Dacic stated. The minister raised the country’s terrorism threat level to red the highest possible leading to stricter security checks and greater police presence at vulnerable sites.
No embassy personnel were harmed in the attack Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement noting that the embassy was closed during the nighttime hours when the assault occurred. The prosecution office detailed that the black-clad assailant opened the door to the guard’s booth before launching the knife attack. Investigations into the full circumstances continue authorities reported.
This marks the second such assault on guards at the Israeli embassy in the Serbian capital in two years. In June 2024 a 25-year-old Serbian convert to Islam used a crossbow to injure an officer in the neck before being shot dead according to an Associated Press report from the time. That earlier attacker was identified as Milos Zujovic from the town of Mladenovac.
Dacic visited the injured officer following the latest incident and reported that the policeman was doing well and did not require hospital treatment. The interior minister emphasized that the assailant appeared to have acted alone. Serbian police increased their presence at key locations across the country in response to the raised alert level.
The event comes amid ongoing regional concerns regarding extremism though specific links beyond the attacker’s online activity have not been detailed by officials. Security agencies in Serbia had prior knowledge of the minor’s sympathies Dacic noted. The full investigation by prosecutors and security services is expected to provide additional details in the coming days.
