(JTA) — A Nigerien man stabbed two Danish journalists in Gabon, allegedly saying it was a revenge attack against the United States for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The assailant wounded the reporters for the National Geographic channel at a market popular with tourists in Libreville, the capital of the central African country, according to the Gabon defense minister, Etienne Kabinda Makaga. During the attack, the man shouted “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “God is great,” Makaga said.
Speaking Saturday on Gabonese television, Makaga said the attacker — a 53-year-old man from Niger who has lived in Gabon for the past two decades — “acted in retaliation for U.S. attacks against Muslims and America’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”
As of Sunday afternoon, the attack had yet to be classified as an act of terrorism.
On Sunday, police in Gabon arrested dozens of people in connection with the attack. The detained men were mostly traders and sellers from West Africa who work in the market, the French news agency AFP reported. The market was shut down after the attack and did not reopen, according to AFP.
Islamist terrorism is not seen as a major problem in Gabon.
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