Two Danish Journalists Stabbed in Gabon for ‘U.S. Attacks on Muslims’

Two Danish journalists have been stabbed in Gabon’s capital in an apparent anti-American attack, leaving one of them in serious condition. Authorities in the West African country say the attacker has been arrested and will be “punished with the utmost rigor that the law allows.” “According to the first testimonies at the scene, the assailant, a 53-year-old Nigerien man, shouted 'Allahu Akbar' during the attack,” Gabonese Defense Minister Etienne Massard Makaga said in a statement. The assailant told police he acted “in retaliation for the attacks of the United States against the Muslims and the American recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” according to Makaga. It was not immediately clear if the journalists had been mistaken for Americans. They were reportedly working for National Geographic, and were attacked Saturday while shopping at an artisan market popular among tourists. Gabon, a small French-speaking nation, had up until now been spared such Islamist-style attacks.