A teenage Islamic State supporter armed with two knives attacked a police guard outside Israel’s embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, and the guard shot him dead.
Story Highlights
- The attacker, a minor, rushed a police guard outside the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade with two knives while shouting “Allahu Akbar.”
- The guard, from Serbia’s Gendarmerie, was only lightly hurt and killed the attacker in self-defense, officials say.
- Security agencies had been watching the teen as a supporter of the Islamic State terror group, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said.
- Serbia raised its terror threat to the highest level and put more police at key sites.
- Israel says no embassy staff were hurt; the embassy was closed at the time.
- The attack came shortly after midnight on Wednesday, October 28.
Knife Attack Outside the Embassy
The attack came shortly after midnight on Wednesday, October 28, outside the Israeli Embassy in Serbia’s capital. Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said a minor armed with two knives ran at the officer guarding the building while shouting “Allahu Akbar,” which means “God is great” in Arabic. The guard is a member of the Gendarmerie, Serbia’s special armed police unit.
🇷🇸🇮🇱 Serbia raised its terrorism threat level to red (highest level) following an attempted terrorist attack on the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade.
Serbian police killed a minor who allegedly attempted to attack a gendarmerie officer while holding two knives and shouting "Allahu…
— kos_data (@kos_data) October 28, 2026
Dacic said the officer was “slightly wounded to the face” and killed the attacker in self-defense. Police photos showed the guard’s booth and the area around it sealed off with police tape. Police have not released the attacker’s name or age. He is believed to be from Sabac, a town in western Serbia. Dacic said police are treating it as a terrorist attack, and that security agencies had already flagged the teen as an Islamic State supporter.
A Teen Already on the Radar
The most troubling part of the story is that the attacker was not a stranger to Serbian security. Dacic said security agencies had been watching the teen as a supporter of the Islamic State, the terror group also known as ISIS. He said the teen “kept the black flag in support of the Islamic State on his Instagram” account.
Dacic called it a “terrorist attack.” Police have not released any other motive, and no arrests of other people have been reported. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the incident “is under investigation by the relevant authorities.”
Highest Terror Alert Declared
After the attack, Serbia raised its terror threat to its highest level and stepped up police at key locations across the country. That move shows officials are treating the threat to Israeli and Jewish sites in Serbia as real and ongoing.
This is the second attack on the same embassy in less than three years. In June 2024, a man shot a Serbian police officer guarding the embassy in the neck with a crossbow. That officer also shot and killed his attacker. Serbia keeps close ties with Israel, and its embassy guards have faced two armed attacks.
A Guard Who Held His Post
The men and women guarding these sites put their lives on the line every day. A trained officer, rushed at night by an attacker with two knives, kept his head, defended himself and stopped the threat before anyone else was hurt. That is not a small thing.
Conservatives who value law enforcement, firm action against terrorism and the right to self-defense will see this case as straightforward. Serbia’s quick move to raise its terror alert shows a government taking the danger seriously instead of playing it down, a contrast with the soft-on-security instincts too often seen in parts of the West.
Sources:
bbc.com, dw.com, reuters.com, youtube.com
