A Serbian police officer on Saturday shot dead a man who fired a crossbow at his neck in front of the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, in what the prime minister described as a “terrorist act”.
Police identified the attacker as a convert to Islam who was born in 1999 in the town of Mladenovac, about 50 kilometers from Belgrade.
The attack took place in the Serbian capital at around 11:00 am (0900 GMT) on Saturday, when the attacker shot the officer on duty outside the Israeli embassy.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said the policeman fired his gun at the attacker in self-defense, “who died as a result of his injuries.”
Authorities said some of the arrests were made for “preventive reasons” and that several people known to security services were suspected of being linked to the attack.
Dacic said those arrested included a Belgrade man who was also detained two years ago for being the administrator of several terrorist Internet sites that called for “jihad,” or holy war, but was later released from custody.
“It is suspected that he directly participated in the organization and logistical support of this terrorist act.”
Police also said that they were conducting searches at several locations.
“There are more people we are looking for, especially one of them who is on Serbian territory,” President Aleksandar Vucic told reporters after visiting the wounded officer.
He said the attacker and his accomplices had been discovered by authorities before Saturday’s attack, but there was not enough evidence to arrest them.
The 34-year-old officer, who underwent surgery at the hospital, was in his guard booth at the time of the attack.
According to authorities, the attacker had gone to live in Novi Pazar, the historical and political centre of the Bosniak Muslim minority in Serbia, and the centre of Islam in the country.
Dacic told reporters that initial indications were that the attack was linked to those suspected of being linked to the Wahhabi movement – an ultra-conservative branch of Islam that dominates Saudi Arabia.
He said overall security in Belgrade had been increased and special prosecutors had taken over the case.
‘Terrorist act’
Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic strongly condemned the incident, calling it a “heinous terrorist act”.
The Prime Minister said his country would respond firmly to the threat of terrorism and stressed that Serbian citizens would be able to “feel safe”.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry statement said “the embassy is closed and no embassy staff was injured” in an “attempted terrorist attack” in its vicinity. The circumstances are still being investigated, the statement said.
Later on Saturday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz thanked Serbian authorities “for their strong support and cooperation following today’s attempted terrorist attack on the Israeli embassy in Belgrade.”
“Terrorism cannot be tolerated!”
Israeli ambassador to Serbia Yahel Vilon expressed his gratitude to the wounded officer on the X, “who courageously stopped the attack”.
“I am confident that the investigation by the competent authorities into this shameful attack will identify all those responsible and further contribute to maintaining Serbia as a safe country.”
Meanwhile, Serbia’s top Islamic cleric Senad Halitovic strongly condemned the attack and wished the injured officer a speedy recovery.
“Such crimes are against all religious teachings, especially the teachings of Islam. Today’s crime is the work of an ignorant person,” he said in a statement.
The Balkan nation has continued to sell arms to Israel since the war in Gaza began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 that killed 1,195 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli data.
The militants have also seized hostages, 116 of them in Gaza itself, though the military says 42 have been killed.
Israel’s retaliatory strikes have killed at least 37,834 people, the vast majority of them civilians, according to health ministry figures in Hamas-run Gaza.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)