A Serbian policeman was injured in a crossbow attack outside the Israeli embassy in the capital Belgrade.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic told reporters that the officer then shot and killed the attacker.
The attacker – whose identity has not yet been identified by authorities – hit the police officer in the neck, Dacic said.
The officer was taken to hospital to undergo surgery to treat his injury. His vital prognosis would be compromised.
Serbian television channel B92 quoted Mr. Dacic as saying the attacker approached a small building in front of the Israeli embassy around 11:00 a.m. (09:00 GMT), apparently to ask questions about a museum.
The man then allegedly opened the door of the small building, pulled out a crossbow and shot the officer, Dacic said. The officer then returned fire and the attacker died about half an hour later.
Mr Dacic said the case had been taken over by special prosecutors and several other people had been arrested as a precautionary measure.
While the interior minister suggested the attack could be part of a wider threat, Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic called it “a crime committed by an individual”.
According to comments carried by the Beta news agency, he called the incident “an act of madness, which cannot be attributed to any religion or nation.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the embassy was closed at the time of the incident and no employees were injured.
The Belgrade incident is not the first time that someone has apparently tried to stage an attack on an Israeli embassy since the Gaza war that Israel launched following the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7. .
