ISIS terrorist brandishing knives outside of the Israeli embassy in Belgrade killed during midnight attack as he shouted “Allahu Akbar.”
By David Rosenberg, World Israel News
An Islamic State-supporting terrorist was shot and killed early Wednesday morning after attacking a Serbian police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade with two knives, Serbian authorities said.
The attack took place at approximately 12:15 a.m. local time, prompting authorities to raise the country’s terrorism threat level to its highest category and deploy additional security forces to sensitive locations.
Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said the assailant, believed to be a minor from the western Serbian city of Šabac, approached the embassy’s security detail shouting “Allahu Akbar” before attacking an officer from Serbia’s Gendarmerie, an elite police unit.
The officer shot and killed the attacker in self-defense but suffered a minor knife wound to his face.
“A minor, so far unidentified,” attacked the officer while “shouting Allahu Akbar,” Dacic said in a statement released by the Interior Ministry.
Authorities said the attacker was already known to Serbian intelligence services and had been under surveillance because of his support for the Islamic State terrorist organization.
Dacic said investigators had identified an Instagram account associated with the attacker that displayed the organization’s black flag and insignia.
“Although his identity has not yet been established, our service had been monitoring him,” Dacic said, according to the Interior Ministry statement.
The minister said the attack was being investigated as an act of terrorism and announced an immediate increase in security measures throughout the country.
“Considering that the terrorist attack occurred on our territory, I have raised the terrorism threat level to the highest possible level, the red level,” Dacic said.
The heightened alert includes additional armed police patrols and security checks at diplomatic missions, transportation hubs, major infrastructure facilities and other locations where large numbers of people gather.
Dacic and Serbian Police Director Dragan Vasiljevic subsequently visited the wounded officer in hospital. Officials said the officer was recovering well and was expected to be discharged later Wednesday.
The attack was the second deadly confrontation involving an assailant and Serbian security personnel outside the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade in just over two years.
On June 29, 2024, a Serbian Islamist armed with a crossbow shot a police officer guarding the embassy in the neck. The wounded officer returned fire, fatally injuring the attacker.
The assailant was subsequently identified as Miloš Žujović, also known as Salahudin Žujović, a Serbian convert to Islam associated with the Wahhabi movement.
Serbian authorities initially investigated possible connections to a wider extremist network, but Dacic announced the following month that investigators had concluded the attacker acted alone.
“No broader organization has been identified in the preparation of the terrorist act,” Dacic said in July 2024.
The 2024 attack also prompted Serbia to declare its highest terrorism alert and strengthen security around diplomatic missions and Jewish institutions.
Wednesday’s incident occurred one day after Israel held parliamentary elections and three days after Serbia’s own parliamentary elections, in which a student-led opposition movement defeated the political camp of former President Aleksandar Vucic.
Serbian authorities have not announced whether Wednesday’s attacker had any accomplices or received instructions from a terrorist organization. The investigation remains ongoing.
