At least eight people have been killed and 13 wounded in a shooting in the Serbian village of Dubona, the country’s Interior Ministry spokesperson told CNN.
The shooter remains at large, and a warrant has been issued for a 21-year-old male suspect, identified as Uros B. by Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic.
The police have cordoned off the area where they suspected him to be hiding, according CNN affiliate channel N1.
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The incident happened on Thursday night at 11 p.m. local time, Serbia’s Interior Ministry spokesperson said. The attacker shot a group of people with an automatic weapon and fled the scene, according to the public broadcaster RTS, prompting police to launch a manhunt.
The Interior Ministry confirmed to CNN that they are treating this incident as an act of domestic terrorism, but did not specify more details.
All special police units are engaged, including an anti-terrorism unit, helicopter unit, and police forces from the cities of Belgrade and Smederevo.
The Ministry also shared photos with CNN that shows the Serbian special forces actively searching for the suspect, and Interior Minister Gasic at the scene.
Ambulances and relatives of the injured are arriving at the Emergency Center in Mladenovac, N1 reported.
“The perpetrator is on the run, and all available patrols have been sent in the direction of Mladenovac and Mali Požarevac,” it added.
This comes a day after the Balkan country was rocked by news of a 13-year-old boy opening fire on classmates at a school in the capital Belgrade. That shooting left at least eight children dead, along with a security guard.
Until this week, mass shootings were rare in Serbia, despite the country’s high rate of gun ownership. Serbia has the highest level of civilian gun ownership in Europe, and the fifth-highest in the world – a legacy of years of conflict in the 1990s.
