The U.S. Embassy in Montenegro was attacked by an assailant with a hand grenade before he blew himself up with a second device. There were no other deaths resulting from the attack.
The New York Times reports a witness saw the attacker throw an object over the wall around midnight. The attack happened while the embassy in the capital city of Podgorica was closed suggesting “mass casualty” was not the goal of the now deceased attacker and raising questions regarding his intentions. The incident is not regarded as an act of terrorism.
The attacker has since been identified as 43-year-old Dalibor Jaukovic, an “ex-soldier apparently decorated by former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic after NATO’s bombing of Serbia and Montenegro in 1999.” He was born in Serbia from which Montenegro split in 2006.
His motives and possible connections remain under investigation though a report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty suggests Jaukovic was ‘Pro-Russian’.
Montenegro politics have been particularly tense since 2016 with its recent entry into NATO despite its history as a Slavic ally. Per the AP: “Several people, including two Russian secret service operatives, are on trial in Podgorica on charges that they wanted to overthrow Montenegro’s government in 2016 because of its pro-Western policies.”
The U.S. embassy in Belgrade burns after masked attackers broke into the building and set an office on fire at the end of a massive protest against Western-backed Kosovo independence, in the Serbian capital, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. More than 150,000 Serbs gathered at the rally vowing to retake the territory which is viewed as Serbia’s religious and national heartland. (AP Photo)
Notably, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in neighboring Serbia at the time of the attack.
It also comes exactly 10 years after an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade which was set on fire by protestors demonstrating against “Kosovo’s strongly U.S.-supported declaration of independence from Serbia.”
The U.S. Embassy in Podgorica is scheduled to reopen on Friday, February 23. However, the consulate will continue to be open for emergency services.
