ISIS is claiming responsibility for a Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, bombing Wednesday during a ceremony marking the 102nd anniversary of World War I’s armistice.
Three people were wounded when the bomb went off at the cemetery.
Several countries had representatives at the ceremony, according to the French Foreign Ministry.
The armistice is commemorated in several European countries. The French officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, condemned the attack.
Jiddah, the Red Sea port city, saw its Ottoman troops surrender to the local troops backed by the British in 1916 amid the war. That sparked the start of the Kingdom of Hejaz, which later became part of Saudi Arabia in 1932.
The attack follows on the heels of a stabbing Oct. 29 that slightly wounded a guard at the French Consulate in Jiddah. The stabbing was carried out by a Saudi man, who was arrested. His motives remain unclear.
France has urged its citizens in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim-majority countries to be “on maximum alert” amid heightened tensions after an assailant decapitated a French middle school teacher who showed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s support for caricatures as a cornerstone of free speech has riled some Muslims who view the depictions as incitement and a form of hate speech.
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