Attack at French Consulate in Saudi Arabia wounds at least 3

An explosion wounded at least three people Wednesday in an attack on a ceremony organized by the French Consulate to commemorate the end of

World War I in a nonMuslim cemetery in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, officials said.

An improvised explosive device struck the ceremony, attended by representatives of France, Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, the French Embassy in Saudi Arabia said in a statement.

“Such attacks on innocent people are shameful and entirely without justification,” the embassy said.

The attack comes at a time of heightened tensions between France and a number of Muslim countries, after the republication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. France has since been targeted by a series of knife attacks, protests in Muslim nations and a call by some Muslim countries to boycott French goods.

Two knife attacks on French soil by young Muslim extremists in recent weeks have added to the tensions.

It was not immediately clear exactly how many people were injured in Wednesday’s explosion, and authorities have not yet released information on possible suspects or motives.

The state-run Saudi

Press Agency said two people had been lightly injured: a Greek consular worker and a Saudi security guard. The report did not say where or how the attack occurred.

Nathalie Goulet, a

French senator and the vice president of a parliamentary friendship group between France and Gulf countries, added that a third person, a British national, also suffered minor injuries.