UK Edition
Montenegro police investigating 'suicide' grenade attack on US embassy
Police in Montenegro have launched an investigation into the motives behind a possible suicide attack on the United States embassy in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital.
The attack, which left nobody injured, occurred just after midnight on Thursday morning. Eyewitnesses reported seeing a man throw an object, believed to be a hand-grenade, over the wall of the embassy that then exploded. The man was then killed by a second explosive device.
Citing police sources, the Montenegrin press identified the suspected attacker as Dalibor Jaukovic, a 43-year-old Podgorica resident and a former soldier. Jaukovic’s Facebook profile revealed that in 1999 he was decorated by Slobodan Milosevic for “outstanding dedication to his duties in the defence and security of the homeland” during the Nato bombing of Serbia.
His decoration has raised the prospect that the embassy attack may have been linked to the Nato bombing campaign, in which US forces had a lead role. But as yet Jaukovic’s motives remain unknown.
While the Montenegro press has speculated he used another grenade to kill himself it is also possible that the device exploded prematurely before he could use it on his intended target.
The attack left a small crater in the embassy grounds but US officials said it had failed to cause any material damage to the building.
In a tweet the embassy said that “following an internal review the embassy confirms all mission personnel are safe and accounted for following the incident this morning.” It also warned American citizens to stay away from the embassy area, saying there was an “ongoing security situation”.
Although it is unclear where the explosives came from it is possible the attacker was using his own supplies. The western Balkan region still has a problem with many weapons left over from the bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s still in the hands or private individuals.
The Montenegrin government said that criminal prosecutors were investigating the incident and that the area around the embassy had been sealed off by the security services