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France's Foreign Ministry said the attack had taken place at a
ceremony in the Red Sea port city involving foreign embassies,
and that an explosive device had been used. A Greek official
told Reuters four people had been 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 told Reuters, declining to named.
"The embassies that were involved in the commemoration ceremony
condemn this cowardly attack, which is completely unjustified,"
a French Foreign Ministry statement said.
"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 consulate in Jeddah, in a statement seen by Reuters,
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.
A source with knowledge of the matter said the attack happened
early on Wednesday when several diplomatic delegations from the
European Union and other countries were present at a Remembrance
Day event organised by the French Embassy.
The Saudi government communications office did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
The explosion was the second security incident to take place in
Jeddah in the last couple of weeks.
On Oct. 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.
(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas in Athens, Marwa Rashad in
Riyadh and Raya Jalabi in Beirut; Writing by Maha El Dahan;
Editing by William Maclean and Mark Heinrich)
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