Knife Attacker Shot Dead Outside Israeli Embassy in Belgrade: Wounded Officer Fired in Self-Defense as Serbia Raises Threat Level to Red
An attacker armed with two knives wounded a police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, shortly after midnight on Wednesday, October 28, before the officer shot the assailant dead, according to Reuters and the Associated Press. The officer suffered a light wound to his cheek. Serbia's outgoing interior minister, Ivica Dacic, said police were treating the incident as a terrorist attack and had raised the country's security threat level to red, the highest, with an increased police presence at key locations.
"One minor, of so far undetermined identity, who is reasonably suspected to be from Šabac, rushed at an officer of the Gendarmerie shouting 'Allahu Akbar' and attacked him with two knives," Dacic said in an emailed statement. The Belgrade Higher Public Prosecutor's Office said an investigation showed that a black-clad unidentified individual opened the door of the guard house in front of the embassy and rushed at the officer, throwing one knife that hit the officer in the left cheek; the officer then drew his service weapon and fired several shots, killing the attacker on the spot. Prosecutors qualified the officer's action as justified and in self-defense, and said the investigation was continuing.
Israel's foreign ministry confirmed an "attempted terrorist attack," saying the attacker was neutralized by local police, no embassy personnel were injured, and the mission was closed at the time of the late-night incident. Dacic said Serbia's security agencies had been monitoring the attacker, a supporter of the Islamic State group whose social media account displayed the group's black flag.
It was the second attack at the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade in two years: in June 2024, an assailant shot a Serbian police officer in the neck with a crossbow before being killed. Wednesday's attack came a day after Israel's parliamentary election and days after Serbia's own snap election, with the outgoing Serbian administration still in place in a caretaker role until a new government is formed.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 塞尔维亚首都贝尔格莱德市景，画面中为圣萨瓦教堂一带。照片：Jovan Marković，CC BY 2.0，经Wikimedia Commons。
