France: Unstable attacker targets Jewish man with knife

PARIS – Police say a man with a history of psychiatric problems attacked a Jewish man with a knife in the eastern French city of Strasbourg.

A Strasbourg police spokesman who wasn’t authorized to be publicly named said the attacker was immediately arrested, and the victim was not seriously hurt in Friday’s incident.

The spokesman said the knife-wielding man was reported to have said “Allahu akbar” as he assaulted the Jewish man, who was wearing “clear exterior signs of his religion.”

He said local police do not consider it a terrorist attack. He called the attacker someone with “clear deficiencies” who had a police record, without elaborating.

The incident comes as France is on edge after a string of Islamic extremist attacks. Jews have been specifically targeted in some past violence.