Islamic State group claims attack at Saudi WWI ceremony

From Associated Press via the Huron Daily Tribune

BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Thursday for the explosion the previous day at a cemetery in Saudi Arabia, saying it primarily targeted French diplomats attending the ceremony in remembrance of the end of World War I.

Other Europeans and Americans were attending the ceremony at the Non-Muslims Cemetery in the kingdom’s coastal city of Jiddah. The blast wounded three people, leaving them with light to minor injuries.

IS said in a posting on its news agency, Aamaq, that it primarily targeted the French consul attending the ceremony because of his country’s publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Aamaq said other European countries at the ceremony were also considered targets because they are part of the international coalition fighting Islamic State militants. 

The claim was also carried on one of the militant Telegram channels used by IS, which said its fighters were able to plant the explosive device at the ceremony. The militant group offered no proof for its claim.

In remarks carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency on Thursday night, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged to “strike with an iron fist against anyone who would like to undermine our security and stability.”

Some 20 people of different nationalities were attending the ceremony in Jiddah. Wednesday marked the 102nd anniversary of the armistice ending World War I, a day that was also commemorated in several European countries.

The Non-Muslim Cemetery sits near Jiddah’s docks, hidden behind trees alongside a major thoroughfare in the city. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission — which maintains places of commemoration for military service members from British Commonwealth nations — shows just one soldier buried at the cemetery, Pvt. John Arthur Hogan, who died in June 1944.