Serbian Police Kill Knife Attacker Outside Israeli Embassy in Belgrade

Serbian police fatally shot a young attacker outside the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade shortly after midnight on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, after he approached a security officer with two knives. Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said authorities were investigating the incident as a terrorist attack and had raised Serbia's terrorism threat level to its highest setting.

The officer, a member of Serbia's Gendarmerie identified by prosecutors as D.S., suffered a knife wound to the left cheek but did not require hospital treatment, according to accounts from Serbian authorities. Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed that no embassy personnel were injured and that the diplomatic mission was closed when the attack occurred.

According to the Belgrade Higher Public Prosecutor's Office, a person dressed in black opened the door to the security booth at approximately 12:15 a.m. local time before approaching the officer and throwing a knife at him. The officer then drew his service weapon and fired multiple rounds, killing the attacker at the scene.

Dacic said the suspect was a minor and a Serbian citizen whose identity had not been publicly established. Authorities were investigating the circumstances of the assault and the suspect's reported links to the Islamic State group.

Addressing the attack's classification, Dacic said police were treating the incident as a terrorist act. He also said the suspect had shouted an Arabic religious phrase during the assault.

Security agencies had been monitoring the suspect before the incident, according to Dacic. He said the young man had expressed support for the Islamic State and displayed the group's black flag on his Instagram account. Authorities have not publicly disclosed further details about the investigation's findings.

Following the attack, Serbia raised its terrorism threat level to red alert, the country's highest classification, according to the interior minister. The measure prompted increased police deployments and tighter security checks at sensitive infrastructure sites and locations where large crowds gather.

Armed security personnel were visible outside the embassy on Wednesday morning. Israel's Foreign Ministry described the incident as an attempted terrorist attack and confirmed that local police had stopped the assailant.

The incident is the second reported attack targeting a police officer assigned to protect the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade in less than three years. In June 2024, a man armed with a crossbow wounded a Serbian officer guarding the mission before the officer returned fire and killed the attacker.

In the 2024 incident, the officer survived a crossbow bolt wound to the neck. Serbian authorities subsequently identified the attacker as a Serbian man who had converted to Islam.

The latest attack occurred amid a period of political uncertainty in Serbia following an early parliamentary election on Sunday. According to ABC News, the election followed nearly two years of protests against former President Aleksandar Vucic, while Vucic and his allies continued to control the police as the formation of a new government remained pending.

Serbian authorities have not announced a final determination of the attacker's motive. The investigation remains ongoing, while heightened security measures are in place across the country.