A view of the French consulate in the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah on Thursday. AFP

Gulf Today Report

A guard at the French Consulate in Jeddah was wounded after a man attacked him with a 'sharp tool' on Thursday.

"A Saudi man was arrested after the incident," local police said.

According to the French Embassy the guard was taken to hospital and his life was not in danger.

"It was an attack by knife which targeted the guard," the French Embassy said in its statement.

The French Embassy 'strongly condemned' the attack against a diplomatic outpost.

Police in the western province of Makkah, where Jeddah is situated, said the attacker was a Saudi, but it did not give the nationality of the guard, who they said had sustained minor injuries.

The French embassy in Riyadh urged its nationals in Saudi Arabia to exercise "extreme vigilance."

Security around the Jeddah consulate later appeared to be tightened, with Saudi police cars seen patrolling around the complex at regular intervals.

France is still reeling from the beheading earlier this month of a school teacher by a man of Chechen origin.