Bomb blast at WW1 remembrance in Saudi Arabia wounds several

A bomb attack on a World War One remembrance ceremony in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah wounded several people on Wednesday.

According to Reuters, the attack had taken place early on Wednesday when several diplomatic delegations from the European Union and other countries were present at a Remembrance Day event in the Red Sea port city organised by the French Embassy.

The Saudi government communications office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, reports Reuters.

A Greek official said four people were wounded.

“There was some sort of a blast at the non-Muslim cemetery in Jeddah. There are four slightly injured, among them one Greek,” the Greek official said, declining to be named.

French foreign ministry said in a statement that the embassies involved in the commemoration ceremony have condemned this ‘cowardly attack’ and described the incident as ‘completely unjustified’.

“They call on the Saudi authorities to shed as much light as they can on this attack, and to identify and hunt down the perpetrators,” the French foreign ministry said.

The French consulate in Jeddah urged its nationals in Saudi Arabia to exercise ‘maximum vigilance’ following the attack.

“In particular, exercise discretion, stay away from all gatherings and be cautious when moving around,” said the statement, which was emailed to French residents in Jeddah. The statement said only two people had been injured.

Wednesday’s explosion was the second security incident to take place in Jeddah in the last couple of weeks.

On October 29, a Saudi man was arrested after attacking and wounding a security guard at the French consulate there.

It followed the beheading earlier in October near Paris of a French school teacher by a man of Chechen origin who had said he wanted to punish the teacher for showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a civics lesson.