Serbian police guard kills knife attacker outside Israeli Embassy in Belgrade

A police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade shot and killed a knife-wielding attacker after being slightly wounded in an assault overnight into Wednesday, October 28, Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said. Serbian authorities were treating the incident outside the embassy in the capital as a terrorist attack.

Dacic described the assailant as a minor who had already been monitored by security agencies as a supporter of the terrorist organization Islamic State. The minister said the attacker was believed to be from Sabac, a town in western Serbia. According to Dacic, the assailant’s Instagram account displayed a black flag expressing support for the organization.

The minister said the attacker shouted “Allahu Akbar,” an Arabic phrase meaning “God is great,” while assaulting the officer. Dacic described the guard’s fatal shooting of the assailant as an act of self-defense. The officer suffered slight injuries in the knife attack, according to the minister’s account.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry subsequently confirmed what it called an “attempted terrorist attack” near the country’s embassy in Belgrade. The ministry said no personnel had been injured and that the incident was under investigation. Its statement followed the Serbian minister’s account of the assault on the police guard outside the diplomatic premises.

Following the attack, Serbia raised its terrorism threat level to the highest category, known as a red alert. Dacic said the designation meant more stringent security checks and a larger police presence at sensitive locations. He said those locations included infrastructure facilities as well as places where large numbers of people gather.

The incident occurred just days after a key early parliamentary election in Serbia. It also came one day after Israel held its own parliamentary vote, with a clear outcome still not in sight.

The same Israeli Embassy was the site of another attack in June 2024. In that incident, an assailant armed with a crossbow seriously wounded a Serbian police officer assigned to guard the embassy. Police then shot and killed the attacker.

The assailant in the 2024 attack was identified as a 25-year-old convert to Islam from a village near Belgrade who had become radicalized. That earlier assault left the officer seriously wounded, while the guard involved in Wednesday’s incident sustained slight injuries, according to Dacic.