Bomb Blast in Saudi Arabia
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*A bomb blast struck a World War I commemoration attended by Western diplomats in the Saudi city of Jeddah Wednesday, leaving at least two people wounded in the second assault on diplomatic missions in recent weeks, officials said.*
The attack at a non-Muslim cemetery comes less than a month after a guard at the French consulate in Jeddah was wounded by a knife-wielding Saudi citizen, amid anger among Muslim nations over satirical cartoons of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).
Diplomats from France, Greece, Italy, Britain and the United States were in attendance at the Armistice Day commemoration ceremony in the Red Sea port city, according to a joint statement from their embassies that condemned the “cowardly attack”.
“The annual ceremony commemorating the end of World War I at the non-Muslim cemetery in Jeddah, attended by several consulates, including that of France, was the target of an IED (improvised explosive device) attack this morning, which injured several people,” France’s foreign ministry said.
A Greek policeman residing in the kingdom was among those wounded, a Greek diplomatic source told AFP.
A British citizen was also believed to have been wounded.
A Saudi policeman suffered minor injuries, state-owned Ekhbariya television added, citing the governor of Mecca region, where Jeddah is located.
“(Saudi) security services will launch an investigation into an incident of aggression during a gathering of a number of consuls in Jeddah,” Ekhbariya said.