Serbia has raised its terror threat level to red, the highest in its security system, after a teenager attacked a gendarme outside the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, interior minister Ivica Dacic said.
Shortly after midnight today, the youth approached a guard at the embassy, shouted "Allahu Akbar" and attacked him with two knives. The gendarme, cut on the face, fired in self-defence and killed the attacker.
The wounded officer is in hospital in good condition, and his life is not in danger. Dacic and Serbian police chief Dragan Vasiljevic visited him there.
The attacker has not yet been identified. Dacic said the security services have information that he sympathised with Islamic State. Posts with the group's symbols on his Instagram account point to this, he said. The information comes from the first stage of the investigation.
It has not been made public whether the youth acted alone or had links to a terror group.
Dacic ordered the red level immediately after the attack. There are more police and special units around diplomatic missions, key infrastructure and crowded places. Police are also checking sites important for security. The tighter regime will stay in place until the authorities decide otherwise.