A man armed with knives has been shot dead by police after attacking a guard outside the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, Serbia's interior minister confirmed.

The attack occurred overnight into Wednesday. The assailant slightly wounded the police officer guarding the embassy before being shot dead by him, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said.

Dacic described the attacker as a minor from the western Serbian town of Sabac. He said the individual had been monitored by security agencies as a suspected supporter of the Islamic State group.

According to the minister, the attacker "kept the black flag in support of the 'Islamic State' on his Instagram account" and shouted "Allahu Akbar" during the assault. Dacic said the guard killed the attacker in self-defense.

Serbian police are treating the incident as a terrorist attack. The country's terrorism threat level has been raised to its highest level, described as "red alert."

"This means tighter security checks and an increased police presence at sensitive sites, including infrastructure facilities and places where large crowds gather," Dacic said.

Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed what it called an "attempted terrorist attack" near its embassy in Belgrade. It added that no embassy personnel were injured and that the incident was under investigation.

The attack came days after a key early parliamentary election in Serbia and one day after Israel held its own parliamentary vote.

This is not the first such incident at the same location. In June 2024, an attacker armed with a crossbow seriously wounded a Serbian police officer guarding the Israeli embassy in Belgrade before being shot and killed by police. That attacker was identified as a 25-year-old convert who had become radicalized.