Suicide bomber targets US embassy in Montenegro

Podgorcia, February 22

A suicide attacker blew himself up after throwing an explosive device into the US embassy compound in Podgorica, the Montenegrin government said today.

Authorities in Podgorica have not released any theories as to the motive for the attack in the country which recently joined NATO despite opposition from some of the population and from where a number of jihadists have travelled to Iraq and Syria.

“In front of the @USEmbassyMNE building in #Podgorica, #Montenegro an unknown person committed suicide with an explosive device. Immediately before, that person threw an explosive device,” the government tweeted, saying the device was “most probably” a hand grenade.

It said the attacker threw the explosive device “into the US embassy compound” from an intersection near a sports centre. An AFP correspondent was unable to reach the site as police sealed off the area. A US State Department spokesperson confirmed “a small explosion near the US Embassy compound” saying officials were “working closely with police to identify the assailant(s)”.

On its Twitter account, the embassy said it had cancelled all visa services for the day, adding that access for US citizens “will be available today on an emergency basis”. A guard at the sports centre who asked not to be named said he “heard two explosions, one after another”.

“Police came very quickly and the body of a man was taken away,” he told AFP.

Montenegro, a small Adriatic state of some 660,000 people, joined NATO last May. The decision to become a member provoked violent protests by the pro-Russian opposition in 2015. — AFP