Serbian police are searching for a suspect in connection with the July 18 shooting death of a police officer and the wounding of another in western Serbia near the border with Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said in a statement the attack in Loznica was "organized" and that the Serbian Prosecutor-General's Office "will consider this case a terrorist attack."
According to the Interior Ministry, police stopped two people in the middle of the night driving a Mercedes car with Serbian license plates. While exiting the vehicle, one person fired a pistol, hitting officer Nikola Krsmanovic in the chest and officer Vjekoslav Ilic in the shoulder.
Krsmanovic died in the hospital in Loznica, where Ilic is being treated for gunshot wounds and is in stable condition.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic sent his condolences to Krsmanovic's family for the "insidious attack" and said, "Serbia will never forget his sacrifice and selfless devotion to duty."
Dacic said 150 members of the police force were searching for the shooter. This includes members of the gendarmerie, a helicopter unit, a special anti-terrorist unit, border and criminal police, and the Sabac police department.
Serbian police are also working with Bosnian police in the Republika Srpska in case the suspect fled across the border.
Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic (file photo)
Dacic said that in cooperation with the Bosnian Serb police, a man with the initials Z.R. was arrested for allegedly driving the shooter from Presevo to Loznica on the Bosnian border. Z.R.'s wife was arrested in Serbia on suspicion of being an accomplice, an Interior Ministry press release said.
Dacic previously said Serbian police arrested Mithat Hadzic on suspicion of driving the attacker's car and said the shooter himself was still at large.
Although the identity of the suspect is not confirmed, police are searching for Artan Hajrizi, whose Kosovo-issued passport and German identity card were found at the scene.
Hajrizi, who told the Insajderi newspaper he had met with the police in Germany, said his brother Faton Hajrizi stole his identification documents.
Faton Hajrizi previously escaped prison in Kosovo, where he was convicted of several offenses, including the killing of a Russian soldier when he was 15 years old.
Dacic said that "it is possible that this is a false identity," but also said Artan Hajrizi was engaging in a "classic lie."
"Artan Hajrizi, today at 11:55 a.m., declared to the Hanover police that yesterday his brother Fatoni stole the personal documents in his apartment in Hanover," Dacic said.
"According to what logic does a person from Hanover return illegally to Presevo and try to go again illegally to Germany? This clearly shows that it was agreed earlier and that it is an organized act," Dacic said.
Dacic called on German police to "urgently answer" how Hajrizi's documents got from Germany to Serbia.
Assistant Police Director Dragan Vasiljevic said Belgrade had contacted the German police through Interpol. Vasiljevic added that Croatian and Kosovar representatives were working with the Serbian police.
Police continue to search around the Drina River with helicopters, drones, and thermal imaging devices in an operation that Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti asked "not be politicized" at a press conference.
Kurti said Kosovar authorities will investigate the case but asked that the issue be treated "from the point of view of security -- legal and professional."
Dacic said he asked for and expects "full cooperation with the German police and the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo and not lies that no one believes."