Knifeman screaming 'Allahu Akbar' is killed after attacking police officer outside Israeli embassy in Serbia
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A knifeman screaming 'Allahu Akbar' has been killed after he attacked a guard outside the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade on Wednesday, Serbian police said.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said that police were treating the incident as a 'terrorist attack' and had raised the terror threat to the highest level and stepped up police presence at key locations.
He said the attacker was a minor and had two knives. He attacked the member of the Gendarmerie, shouting Allahu Akbar, or 'God is great' in Arabic.
Dacic added that the police officer, who was slightly wounded in the face, killed the assailant in self-defense in the incident just after midnight.
Police photos from the scene showed the guard's booth outside the embassy and the area sealed off by police tape as officers in full gear stood nearby.
The attacker was believed to be from the western Serbian town of Sabac, Dacic said.
He said that Serbia's security agencies had been monitoring the attacker, who he said was a supporter of the Islamic State group.
Serbian gendarmes guard the Israeli embassy after an assailant attacked a guard with knives
The scene of an attack on a police officer guarding the Israeli embassy in Belgrade
Police photos from the scene showed the guard's booth outside the embassy and the area sealed off
Dacic said that 'he kept the black flag in support of the Islamic State on his Instagram' account.
Wednesday's attack comes just days after Serbia held a key early parliamentary election on Sunday in which long-ruling former President Aleksandar Vucic was defeated by a youth-led movement after almost two years of protests against him.
But Vucic and his allies still control the police as the new government is yet to be formed.
Israel also held its parliamentary vote Tuesday that exit polls said produced no clear winner.
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.
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