An attacker wounds a police officer guarding Israel's embassy in Serbia before being shot dead

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — An attacker with a crossbow wounded a Serbian police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade on Saturday, Serbia’s interior ministry said. The officer responded by fatally shooting the assailant.

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said in a statement that the attacker fired a bolt at the officer, hitting him in the neck. He said the officer than "used a weapon in self-defense to shoot the attacker, who died as a result of his injuries.”

The policeman was conscious when he was transported to Belgrade's main emergency hospital, where an operation to remove the bolt from his neck will be performed, it added.

The identity of the attacker is still being determined.

"All the circumstances of the attack and possible motives are being investigated,” Dacic said.

Serbia has maintained close relations with Israel amid its armed intervention in Gaza.