A man committed suicide after attempting to throw a grenade over the walls of the US Embassy early Thursday in Montenegro’s capital of Podgorica, Montenegrin police 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, according to Steve Goldstein, US Undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs.
There is no information on the man’s motive at this stage, Goldstein said.
In a statement, Montenegrin police confirmed they had found the “lifeless body of an unidentified male.”
“According to the investigation so far, this male person was killed due to the activation of an explosive device after having previously thrown an explosive device — a bomb — into the US Embassy courtyard,” the statement said.
Police said the embassy incurred no damage “other than the crater remaining at the site where the bomb exploded,” adding “evidence from the site has been collected and it will be subject to expert evaluation.”
The government of the Balkan country 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 that killed the person.
The embassy issued a statement Thursday morning saying there was “an active security situation” near the building in Podgorica.
In a post later on Twitter, the embassy said, “Following our internal review, Embassy at Podgorica confirms all Mission personnel are safe and accounted for following the incident early this morning. Thank you all for sending us your support and kind thoughts. #Podgorica #Montenegro.
In a follow-up tweet, it added, “We are grateful for the close cooperation with our partner and ally, the Government of Montenegro, and we thank the #Montenegrin #police for their ongoing professional support with the investigation of today’s incident.”
Goldstein said there were no other injuries or damage to the embassy, and security officers were continuing a full sweep of the area.
