A man was killed after he tried to throw a grenade over the walls of the US embassy in Montenegro in the early hours of Thursday, a State Department official said.
Undersecretary of State Steve Goldstein said the grenade appeared to have gone off as it was thrown into the air, and the man was found dead 100 feet from the embassy’s wall.
There is no information on the man’s motive at this stage, Goldstein said.
On its official Twitter account, the Montenegro government said an unknown person had “committed suicide with an explosive device” in front of the US embassy shortly after midnight.
The Montenegro government said the person had attempted to throw an explosive device into the compound. It said the device was most probably a hand grenade but didn’t say whether it was the same device which killed the person.
The embassy, located in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica, issued a statement early Thursday morning saying there was “an active security situation” near the building.
Citizens were warned to avoid the area around the embassy and monitor local media. No additional updates have been posted as of yet.
The man’s identity is unclear at this stage. Goldstein said there were no other injuries or damage to the embassy, and security officers were continuing a full sweep of the area.