We strongly condemn this cowardly and unjustifiable attack: France said (Representational)
Paris France:
A bomb on Wednesday struck a World War I commemoration attended by European diplomats in the Saudi city of Jeddah, France said, leaving several people injured amid Muslim anger over the French cartoons.
The attack on a non-Muslim cemetery is the second assault on the kingdom in less than a month, as French President Emmanuel Macron has tried to quell anger in Muslim nations over satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
“The annual ceremony commemorating the end of the First World War in the non-Muslim cemetery of Jeddah, attended by several consulates, including that of France, was subject to an improvised explosive device [improvised explosive device] attack this morning, which injured several people, “said the French Foreign Ministry.
“France strongly condemns this cowardly and unjustifiable attack.”
There was no immediate comment from the Saudi authorities.
Roads leading to the cemetery in central Jeddah were blocked by Saudi traffic police, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.
Last month, a Saudi national wounded a guard at the French consulate in Jeddah with a knife on the same day that a man armed with a knife killed three people at a church in Nice, southern France.
The French embassy in Riyadh has urged its citizens in Saudi Arabia to exercise “extreme vigilance.”
Wednesday’s blast came as Macron, the target of ire across much of the Muslim world for vowing to confront Islamist radicalism after a series of attacks, attended a World War I commemoration ceremony in Paris.
Several countries are celebrating the 102nd anniversary of the armistice signed by Germany and the allied countries to end the war.
Macron has vigorously defended the right to publish cartoons that some consider offensive, including cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad printed by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
French history teacher Samuel Paty showed the same cartoons to students in a class on freedom of expression, leading to his beheading on the outskirts of Paris on October 16 following an online campaign by parents angry at his choice of the lesson material.
Macron’s stance angered many Muslims, sparking protests in several countries in which portraits of the French president were burned and a campaign to boycott French products.
The regional heavyweight of Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, has criticized the cartoons, saying it rejected “any attempt to link Islam and terrorism,” but fell short of condemning the French leadership.
Riyadh also “strongly” condemned last month’s attack in Nice.
On Tuesday, Macron organized a summit of European leaders to chart a joint approach to combat Islamist radicalism after four people were killed in a shooting in the heart of Vienna last week.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated channel.)
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