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A30 world news
Diabierna november

Islamic State group claims attack at Saudi WWI ceremony

(AP) — The Islamic State group have dispersed into the desert in both
claimed responsibility on Thurs- Syria and Iraq, while others also fled
day for the explosion the previous to their home countries. Thousands
day at a cemetery in Saudi Ara- of others languish in Syrian and Iraqi
bia, saying it primarily targeted jails.
French diplomats attending the While the group never had a major
ceremony in remembrance of the presence in Saudi Arabia, the last ma-
end of World War I. jor attack its militants carried out in
the kingdom was in 2015.
Other Europeans and Americans
were attending the ceremony at the In remarks carried by the state-run
Non-Muslims Cemetery in the king- Saudi Press Agency on Thursday
dom’s coastal city of Jiddah. The blast night, Crown Prince Mohammed
wounded three people, leaving them bin Salman pledged to “strike with an
with light o minor injuries. iron fist against anyone who would
like to undermine our security and
IS said in a posting on its news agen- stability” after the Jiddah attack.
cy, Aamaq, that it primarily targeted France has been the target of three at-
the French consul attending the cer- tacks in recent weeks that authorities
emony because of his country's pub- have attributed to Muslim extremists.
lication of caricatures of the Prophet month that lightly wounded a guard
Muhammad. The prophet caricatures, which re- at the French Consulate, also in Jid- The Non-Muslim Cemetery sits
turned to the public domain earlier dah. An Islamic State sympathizer near Jiddah's docks, hidden behind
The claim was also carried on one of this year, are deemed offensive by also carried out a deadly attack in trees alongside a major thorough-
the militant Telegram channels used many Muslims and have sparked pro- Austria earlier this month. fare in the city. The Commonwealth
by IS, which said its fighters were tests in Asia and the Middle East, with The Saudi Embassy in The Hague War Graves Commission — which
able to plant the explosive device at calls for boycott of French products. was sprayed with gunfire early on maintains places of commemoration
the ceremony. The militant group of- They were also seen as the trigger for Thursday, leaving bullet holes across for military service members from
fered no proof for its claim. several attacks against French nation- the facade and in several windows. British Commonwealth nations —
als and interests in recent weeks. Nobody was hurt, according to the shows just one soldier buried at the
Aamaq said other European countries Dutch police. cemetery, Pvt. John Arthur Hogan,
at the ceremony were also considered The attacks included the beheading It is not clear if all these attacks are who died in June 1944.
targets because they are part of the in- of a French teacher outside Paris who related. In 2015, an IS suicide bomber at-
ternational coalition fighting Islamic showed caricatures of the Prophet tacked a mosque inside a police com-
State militants. The U.S-led coalition Muhammad to his class. Three peo- Some 20 people of different nation- pound in Abha, 350 miles south of
against IS declared victory against the ple were later killed in a church in the alities were attending the ceremony Mecca, killing 15 people in the dead-
group in early 2019 after it drove its southern city of Nice. Wednesday's in Jiddah. Wednesday marked the liest attack on the kingdom’s security
militants out of territories they con- explosion in the port city of Jiddah 102nd anniversary of the armistice forces in years. Eleven of the dead
trolled in Syria and Iraq. wounded one U.K. national, a Greek ending World War I, a day that was belonged to an elite counterterrorism
policeman and a Saudi security offi- also commemorated in several Euro- unit whose tasks include protecting
But remnants of the militant group cer. It followed a stabbing attack last pean countries. the hajj pilgrimage.

Greek hospital staff demand hirings as cases, deaths spike

it has massively increased crowding and contact with toms of COVID-19 and test-
intensive care capacity, not- people we do not know.” ing positive.
ing there were a total of just
over 500 ICU beds in Greece The prime minister said the A hospital statement Thurs-
when it came to power after resurgence of the virus in day said the 91-year-old
elections in mid-2019. Greece and the rest of Eu- archbishop was in stable con-
rope was due to “young peo- dition in intensive care with
“Every humanly possible ef- ple having fun. I’m not say- mild respiratory symptoms
fort was made so that we ing this as criticism, of course and a low fever.
can, in the intervening time young people are more sus- Meanwhile, Foreign Minis-
between the first wave and ceptible to such behavior. ter Nikos Dendias, who has
where we are today, rein- But it’s an observation and it been in self-quarantine since
force the ICUs with beds needs to be heard.” Wednesday after coming into
and personnel,” Prime Min- contact with someone who
ister Kyriakos Mitsotakis Greece imposed an early tested positive, said he had
said Thursday during a Par- lockdown during the pan- received a phone call from
(AP) — Dozens of hospi- had a total of 1,104 intensive liament debate on the gov- demic's initial outbreak in his Turkish counterpart,
tal workers held protests care unit beds, of which 496 ernment’s handling of the the spring, a move credited Mevlut Cavusoglu, who in-
at hospitals in Greece were set aside for COVID-19 pandemic. “Whatever was with keeping the number of quired about his health.
Thursday, demand- patients. Of those, 335 are al- humanly possible ... has been deaths and seriously ill very Relations between Greece
ing more medical staff ready occupied. done and continues to be low. But a resurgence of the and Turkey have been partic-
be hired as the country done.” virus this autumn has led to ularly tense in recent months,
struggles to contain a re- On Thursday, authorities a rapidly increasing number mainly due to a dispute over
surgence of the coronavi- reported 50 new deaths and Mitsotakis said that no mat- of people in intensive care drilling rights in the eastern
rus that has led to a new more than 3,300 new con- ter how many ICUs a coun- units, and a sharp increase in Mediterranean.
lockdown being imposed. firmed infections — both try has, “and obviously we deaths. Dendias tweeted that he had
record high daily numbers. prefer to have more rather thanked Cavusoglu for the
An increase in the number Greece’s total confirmed than fewer, a health system Those hospitalized include call, and stressed he was in
of people seriously ill with COVID-19 infections stand cannot cope if we do not hit the Greek Orthodox Arch- quarantine only for preventa-
COVID-19 has brought the at 66,637 with an overall the problem at the start of the bishop of Albania, Anastasios, tive reasons. Greece's deputy
country’s health system un- death toll of 959 in the coun- chain. The start of the chain who was airlifted to Greece foreign minister is also in
der increasing pressure. As try of around 11 million. is the uncontrolled spread from Tirana on Wednesday self-quarantine for the same
of Wednesday night, Greece The government has stressed of the virus mainly through after showing mild symp- reason.