Serbian Guard Fatally Shoots Knife-Wielding Minor Outside Israeli Embassy in Belgrade

A knife-wielding assailant attacked a police guard outside the Israeli embassy in Belgrade just after midnight on Wednesday and was shot dead by the officer, Serbian authorities said. Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said the attacker was a minor who carried two knives and shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he attacked a member of the Gendarmerie. The officer was slightly wounded in the face and killed the assailant in self-defense, Dacic said. Dacic said the attacker, believed to be from the western town of Sabac, had been monitored by security agencies as a supporter of Islamic State and had an IS flag on his Instagram account. Police are treating the incident as a terrorist attack, and Serbia raised its terrorism threat level to the highest, "red alert," with tighter checks and more police at sensitive sites. Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed an "attempted terrorist attack," said no embassy personnel were hurt and the mission was closed at the time, and said Serbian authorities are investigating. Belgrade's Higher Public Prosecutor's office said a person in black opened the door of the guard booth and threw a knife that hit the officer's left cheek. The officer, identified as D.S., then fired several shots.

The right-leaning New York Post leads with the ISIS link in its headline, calling the attacker an "ISIS-supporting minor" and adding "report." It gives the most operational detail: the elite-unit officer, two knives, the prosecutors' account of the booth door and the thrown knife, the officer's initials, and Israel's statement that the attacker was "neutralized." The left-leaning Washington Post, in the excerpt available, uses a more procedural headline attributed to Serbian police, describes an "unidentified assailant" and focuses on the guard being attacked and the attacker killed; it does not mention the Islamic State link or the minor's age in that excerpt. Both agree on timing, location and the use of knives. Deutsche Welle and The Times of Israel largely match the official account, though DW adds the election timing and the red-alert measures.