Bombing in Saudi amid anger at French cartoons
Saudi police close a street leading to a non-Muslim cemetery in the Saudi city of Jeddah where a bomb struck a World War I commemoration attended by European diplomats on Wednesday.
A bomb at a World War I commemoration ceremony attended by European diplomats in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Wednesday wounded several people amid Muslim anger over French cartoons.
The attack at a non-Muslim cemetery is the second assault in the kingdom in less than a month, as French President Emmanuel Macron has sought to assuage anger across Muslim nations over satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed.
“The annual ceremony commemorating the end of World War I at the non-Muslim cemetery in Jeddah, attended by several diplomats, including from France, was the target of an IED (improvised explosive device) attack this morning, which injured several people,” France’s foreign ministry said. “France strongly condemns this cowardly, unjustifiable attack.”
There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities about the incident.
Roads leading up to the cemetery in central Jeddah were blocked by Saudi traffic police.
Last month, a Saudi citizen with a knife wounded a guard at the French consulate in Jeddah on the same day that a knife-wielding man killed three people in a church in Nice in southern France.
The French embassy in Riyadh has urged its nationals in Saudi Arabia to exercise “extreme vigilance.”
