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Entrance to the non-Muslim cemetery in Jeddah
Photo: - / AFP
According to French sources, several people were injured by an explosives attack at a memorial service for the First World War in the Saudi port city of Jeddah.
The attack occurred during a celebration in a non-Muslim cemetery that commemorated the armistice in the First World War on November 11, 1918, the French Foreign Ministry told the German Press Agency in Paris.
Initially, nothing was known about the nationality of the victims.
Several foreign consulates took part in the event, including the French one.
According to the Foreign Office in Berlin, German diplomats were not represented at the memorial ceremony.
France condemned this "cowardly attack".
"Increased vigilance" for the French
In Jeddah in western Saudi Arabia, an attack on a security guard in front of the French consulate did not occur until the end of October.
The security guard was injured and the local attacker arrested.
The embassy then called on all French in Saudi Arabia to "be more vigilant".
On the same day, alleged Islamists also murdered three people in a church in Nice in the south of France.
Paris had previously issued warnings for the French in Turkey, Bangladesh and Indonesia.
The background to this was the tension between France and many Muslim countries over the publication of cartoons of Mohammed.
After the Islamist attack on a teacher near Paris, France's head of state Emmanuel Macron vehemently defended the publication of Mohammed cartoons.
He triggered violent protests in many Muslim countries, there were also calls for a boycott against French goods.
Saudi Arabia is shaped by Wahhabism, a particularly strict and traditional interpretation of Islam.
Most of the holy places of Islam are also located there.
The kingdom had sharply criticized the publication of the Muhammad cartoons, but "firmly" condemned the attack in Nice.
The First World War (1914 to 1918) is considered a turning point in recent history.
Great powers like the German Reich broke up.
Almost nine million soldiers and more than six million civilians died.
The armistice with Germany was signed on November 11, 1918 in a forest near Compiègne north of Paris.
November 11th is a public holiday in France.
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