UPDATE 2-Islamic State claims responsibility for Jeddah attack

(Adds second Islamic State statement, background)
CAIRO, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Islamic State claimed
responsibility on Thursday for an attack on a non-Muslim
cemetery in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah which wounded
several people, although it did not provide any evidence to back
up its claim.
In a statement issued through its official channel on
Telegram, the group said that its "soldiers" had managed to hide
a homemade bomb in the cemetery on Wednesday that then exploded
after several "consuls of crusading countries" gathered there.
The explosion, which occurred during a World War One
remembrance ceremony involving foreign embassies, was the second
security incident to take place in Jeddah in the last couple of
weeks, and the first attack with explosives in years to attempt
to hit foreigners in the conservative kingdom. In a second statement, the Islamic State said they were
primarily targeting the French consul general, who attended the
ceremony, over what it said was France's insistence on
publishing cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad.
France's government has defended the right to publish the
cartoons, which are considered blasphemous by Muslims.
On Oct. 18, an Islamic State spokesman called on the
militant group's supporters to target Westerners, oil pipelines
and economic infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. Earlier on Thursday, unidentified assailants sprayed the
Saudi embassy in the Netherlands with gunfire before dawn. No
one was hurt in the incident. Late last month, a knife-wielding Saudi man was arrested
after attacking and wounding a security guard at the French
consulate in Jeddah. That incident followed the beheading near Paris of a French
teacher by a man of Chechen origin who had said he wanted to
punish the teacher for showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet
during a civics lesson.
French President Emmanuel Macron called the teacher, Samuel
Paty, a hero, and he pledged to fight "Islamist separatism",
saying it was threatening to take over some Muslim communities
in France.