two men detained after police officer shot outside Israeli embassy

Described as a “terrorist act directed against the Serbian state”, this attack which occurred on Saturday is linked “to several people long suspected of having connections with the Wahhabi movement”, according to the Serbian authorities.

The investigation continues in Serbia, the day after the attack that seriously injured a police officer on duty in front of the Israeli embassy in Belgrade. Two men have been taken into custody, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic announced on Sunday, June 30, on the public channel RTS.

One of them was arrested on Saturday in Belgrade, while the other was arrested in Novi Pazar, a historical and political centre of the Bosnian Muslim minority in Serbia, where the assailant also lived, who was shot dead by the police officer and seriously injured.

“The searches were conducted in various locations in Serbia, dozens of people were interviewed”detailed the Minister of the Interior, specifying that they all belong “to the extremist Wahhabi movement”, an ultraconservative branch of Islam that dominates Saudi Arabia.

According to the government, this “terrorist act directed against the Serbian state” East “linked to several people long suspected of having connections with the Wahhabi movement.” The assailant was identified by police as a “converted” to Islam born in 1999 in Mladenovac, a town about fifty kilometers south of Belgrade.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz thanked Serbian authorities on X for their “strong support and cooperation”. “Terrorism cannot be tolerated!”, he wrote on Saturday.

Israeli Ambassador to Serbia Yahel Vilan expressed his gratitude to the police officer. “who courageously prevented the attack” of diplomatic representation. The 34-year-old police officer was hit in the neck by the crossbow shot and underwent surgery on Saturday. Israeli Ambassador to Serbia visited him on Sunday in a Belgrade hospital.