Policeman kills knife attacker outside Israel’s embassy in Serbia

By Aleksandar Vasovic

Belgrade, Oct 28 (Reuters) – An attacker with two knives wounded a policeman guarding the Israeli embassy in Belgrade overnight, before the officer shot the assailant dead, Serbia’s outgoing interior minister said on Wednesday.

“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,” Ivica Dacic said in an emailed statement. 

Dacic added that he had raised Serbia’s security threat level to red, the highest, and that there would be an increased police presence at key locations. The officer suffered a light head wound, Dacic said.

It is the second such attack at Belgrade’s Israeli embassy in two years. In June 2024, an assailant shot a Serbian police officer in the neck with a crossbow.

The attack came a day after Israelis went to the polls, with projected results showing the opposition bloc neck and neck with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s camp.

Serbia’s student-led movement toppled longtime leader Aleksandar Vucic in an election on Sunday, but the outgoing administration remains in place in a caretaker role until the new government is formed. 

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic, writing by Kirsten Donovan, editing by Andrew Heavens)