Two people arrested after attack outside Israeli embassy in Belgrade

Two men were taken into custody on Sunday in connection with an attack outside the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, which the Serbian authorities described as a “targeted act of terror”, a minister said.

The attacker, whom police identified as a “convert” to Islam, shot a Serbian policeman in the neck with a crossbow early Saturday as he was on duty outside the embassy.

The attacker was shot by the officer.

The attacker, from Mladenovac near Belgrade, lived in Novi Pazar, a historical and political center of Serbia’s Bosniak Muslim minority, police said.

According to the authorities, there are initial indications of an attack involving suspected individuals linked to the ultra-conservative Wahhabi branch of Islam that predominates in Saudi Arabia.

They added that several people known to security authorities were suspected of being connected to the attack.

“Searches were carried out in several locations in Serbia and dozens of people were questioned,” Interior Minister Ivica Dacic told state broadcaster RTS on Sunday.

Prosecutors would investigate whether they were connected to the “targeted terrorist attack,” he added.

“What is undeniable about all these people is that they belong to the Wahhabi extremist movement.”

Two men have been taken into custody, the minister said.

– “Extremists and terrorists” –

Security measures have been increased to the highest level across the country and police operations will continue, Dacic added.

“It is an operation against extremists and terrorists, against people who were directly involved in the attack, but also against those who there are indications that they may belong to terrorist groups,” he said.

Police were able to track the attacker’s movements in Belgrade, where he arrived early Saturday morning. They said he had gone to the synagogue before the attack, but was deterred by the heavy police presence there.

He then went on to the Israeli embassy.

“It is clear what the most important and possible targets were,” said Dacic.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz thanked the Serbian authorities on Saturday for “strong support and cooperation following the attempted terrorist attack.”

“Terrorism cannot be tolerated!” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Israeli Ambassador to Serbia Yahel Vilan visited the injured officer in a Belgrade hospital on Sunday.

The 34-year-old police officer underwent surgery to remove an arrow from his neck and his condition was stable, a doctor said.

Serbia has continued to sell arms to Israel since Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7. The attack left 1,195 people, mostly civilians, dead, according to an AFP count based on Israeli figures.

According to the Health Ministry, at least 37,877 people, again mostly civilians, were killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

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