Belgrade, Serbia — An attacker with a crossbow wounded a Serbian police officer guarding the Israeli embassy in Belgrade on Saturday, Serbia’s Interior Ministry said. The officer responded by fatally shooting the attacker.
Both Serbian and Israeli officials said initial indications pointed to terrorism as a motive.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said in a statement that the attacker fired a lightning bolt at the officer, hitting him in the neck. He said the officer then “used a gun in self-defense to shoot the attacker, who died as a result of his injuries.”
The police officer was conscious when he was taken to Belgrade’s main emergency hospital and underwent an operation to remove the bolt from his neck. Hospital officials said he was stable after surgery.
Serbia’s populist president, Aleksandar Vucic, visited the wounded officer in hospital and promised a broad crackdown on “terrorists.”
“We’re chasing them,” he said. “We will have no mercy for terrorism in Serbia.”
A spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Ministry said that “today there was an attempted terrorist attack in the vicinity of the Israeli embassy in Belgrade.” The spokesperson said the embassy is closed and no embassy employees were injured.
Israel’s ambassador to Belgrade, Yahel Vilan, said he was deeply shocked “by the terrorist attack” in front of the embassy.
He expressed his gratitude to the Serbian police officer “who bravely prevented the attack” and said he was “convinced that the investigation by the competent authorities of this shameful attack will identify all those responsible and will further contribute to the preservation of Serbia as a safe country.” “
Minister Dacic told reporters that an investigation was underway, but “there are now every indication that the motives are related to terrorism. Because there is no other reason why someone would attack a gendarme in front of the Israeli embassy.”
Dacic identified the attacker as a 25-year-old Serb who converted to Islam. Police are investigating his possible network and links to foreign terrorist groups after another person was arrested near the scene of the shooting, he added.
“There are indications that these are individuals who are already known to the security services… the Wahhabi movement,” Dacic said, referring to the hardline Islamist movement.
Authorities raised the security alert in Belgrade, including for foreign embassies and government buildings, but also for public places such as shopping malls and other crowded areas.
The Israeli embassy is located not far from the US embassy in an exclusive district of Belgrade. It is guarded by an elite police unit with officers armed with automatic weapons.
Serbia has maintained close relations with Israel for the war in Gaza.
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Associated Press writer Jovana Gec contributed to this report.
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