Serbia places red alert after police officer kills minor at Israeli Embassy

Serbia’s interior ministry announced a red alert for terror threats on Tuesday following a fatal knife attack outside the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade. Interior Minister Ivica Dacic stated that a police guard shot and killed the assailant, a minor, after the teenager wounded the officer during the incident.

Dacic described the attacker as a supporter of the terrorist organization Islamic State who had been under surveillance by security agencies. The minister noted that the suspect hailed from the western Serbian town of Sabac and displayed the group's black flag on his Instagram profile. During the confrontation, Dacic said the assailant shouted 'Allahu Akbar' before the guard acted in self-defense.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed an attempted terrorist attack near its diplomatic mission in the Serbian capital. The ministry reported that no embassy personnel were injured and that an investigation into the incident is currently underway.

Serbian police have elevated the national terror threat level to its highest category. This status triggers stricter security checks and a heightened police presence at critical infrastructure sites and locations where large crowds assemble, according to Dacic.

The violence occurred in a tight window of regional electoral activity. The attack took place one day after Israel held its parliamentary vote, which has not yet produced a clear winner, and just days after Serbia concluded a key early parliamentary election.

This is the second major attack on the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade in under two years. In June 2024, a 25-year-old crossbow-wielding attacker seriously wounded a Serbian police officer at the same location before being shot dead. That previous suspect was identified as a recent Islamic convert from a village near the capital.