RIYADH, KOMPAS.com – Crown Prince Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday (12/11/2020) promised to fight extremist with “mercilessly”, once happened bombing against a meeting of Western diplomats.
The bombing action was claimed ISIS as the mastermind.
The bomb explosion hit a World War I memorial at a non-Muslim cemetery in Jeddah on Wednesday, which is just two weeks after a guard at the consulate France in the Red Sea city was injured by a Saudi national who was holding a knife.
It comes as Saudi Arabia prepares for the G20 leaders summit later this month, the first to be hosted by an Arab country.
Attack it was marked as Muslim outrage over the satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in France.
“We will continue to confront any … extremist behavior and ideas,” Prince Mohammed said in his address to the Shura Council, the government’s top advisory body. AFP on Thursday (12/11/2020).
Also read: French Consulate Guard in Jeddah Stabbed A Saudi Arabian Citizen
“We will continue to attack with an ‘iron fist’ all those who wish to undermine our security and stability,” he continued, according to a transcript of his speech published by the Saudi Press Office.
Prince Mohammed, ruler de facto government, warning those who wish to commit extremist acts with “painful and severe punishment”.
Wednesday’s attack in Jeddah left at least two people injured, including a Greek policeman and a Saudi official.
A British national is also suspected of being injured.
Diplomats from France, Greece, Italy, Britain and the United States attended the Ceasefire Day commemoration ceremony in Jeddah, their embassy said.
Also read: Bomb explodes at Jeddah Cemetery, 4 people injured
ISIS on Thursday claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying it was a protest against cartoons printed by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
A statement from the ISIS propaganda group, Amaq, said attack it was “primarily aimed at the French consulate”.
However, ISIS did not provide evidence of its involvement.
In a separate incident on Thursday, Dutch police arrested a man after multiple shots were targeted at the Saudi embassy in The Hague, causing damage, but no one was injured.
It is not clear whether the incident that occurred in the Netherlands was related to the attack in Jeddah, which the Saudi government called an act of “cowardice”.
Also read: A day after the Jeddah bombing, the Saudi Arabian Embassy in the Netherlands was shot down
Extreme vigilance
The French embassy in Riyadh, meanwhile, has urged citizens in Saudi Arabia to exercise “extreme vigilance”.
The warning came after several attacks, namely at the Jeddah consulate on October 29, and on the same day a man armed with a knife killed 3 people at a church in Nice in southern France.
President of France Emmanuel Macron persistently defending the right to publish Prophet Muhammad cartoon, but he also tried to assuage Muslim anger at his words.
Macron’s stance has sparked protests in several countries, where the portrait president of France burned and a campaign to boycott French products.
Saudi Arabia, home to the holiest sites Islam have criticized the cartoons, saying they reject “any attempt to link Islam and terrorism”.
In his speech, Prince Mohammed said he hoped “the world will stop attacking religious symbols under the slogan of freedom of expression” because it creates “a fertile environment for extremism and terrorism”.
Also read: Austria Issues Strict Anti-terrorism Measures After the Attacks in Vienna
Saudi Arabia, which has long been accused of exporting its ultra-conservative Wahhabi Sunni doctrine around the world, has also fallen victim to domestic terror attacks.
Prince Mohammed, who pledged in 2017 to return Saudi Arabia to “open and moderate Islam”, has sought to retract influence from ultra-conservative religious institutions.
“Extremism is no longer tolerated in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Prince Mohammed said in his speech.
The heir to the Saudi throne has curbed the influence of the once ruling religious police, as he allows mixed-gender music concerts, cinemas and other entertainment options that appeal to the majority of the young population.
Simultaneously, however, the prince has launched a crackdown on dissent and free speech, arresting women activists, clerics and journalists as well as members of the royal family.
Also read: ISIS attack in Iraq, 11 people killed, 8 people injured
– .
