Several injured in attack on airport in Saudi capital Riyadh
Several people have reportedly been injured in a fresh attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital, days after Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for similar strikes on the facility.
The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority announced on Saturday that airport operations had been suspended following the incident.
According to Reuters, an eyewitness reported seeing more than a dozen ambulances rushing to the airport to assist those affected.
The US Embassy in Saudi Arabia said it was aware of the attacks and urged American citizens to stay away from the airport and surrounding areas.
The latest incident comes a day after Saudi authorities reported that three citizens, including a pilot, had been killed in two attacks on the airport attributed to the Iran-backed Houthis. Three other people were also reportedly killed in Houthi attacks on two Saudi airports on October 6 and 7.
A source at a local hospital told AFP that dozens of people were injured in Saturday’s attack.
An eyewitness who said they were inside the domestic terminal told the news agency that Gate 401 had been hit and they had seen people injured in front of them.
“Everyone was running,” the eyewitness said.
Several Western embassies in Saudi Arabia have advised their citizens to avoid the airport. The UK Foreign Office also urged British nationals to stay away until the facility was declared secure and to follow guidance from Saudi authorities.
Several Gulf airlines announced cancellations of flights to and from Riyadh, with Kuwait Airways citing the security situation. According to aviation tracking platform Flightradar, flights heading to the Saudi capital had either been diverted or cancelled.
A medical source told AFP that doctors had been instructed to report to hospitals to help manage the emergency.
“We were told we are dealing with a ‘serious emergency situation’,” the source said.
The suspected attack comes amid a renewed escalation of fighting between Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces and the Houthis, who control much of the country’s north-western region.
The rebels say their attacks on Saudi Arabia are in response to Riyadh’s support for government forces in Yemen’s ongoing civil war.
The conflict has intensified following a Houthi offensive that captured strategically important areas along the Red Sea coast, including the port of Mokha near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a vital passage for international shipping.
Yemeni pro-government forces have since announced that they had secured the strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and serves as a major maritime trade route.
Saudi Arabia established a military coalition in 2015, bringing together several Arab countries to prevent the Houthis from overthrowing Yemen’s internationally recognised government.
A temporary ceasefire was brokered in 2022 after years of airstrikes and ground fighting had killed hundreds of thousands of people and contributed to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
However, the informal truce began to deteriorate in July, with the Houthis declaring a “maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia and launching missile and drone attacks on airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.
The group has described the attacks as retaliation for what it calls a prolonged Saudi blockade and an airstrike on Sanaa airport.
Source: BBC
About The Author
