Twelve people were killed and 309 injured in Saturday’s attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said early on Sunday.
Four Saudi citizens were among those killed. The other eight were residents: two from Bangladesh and one each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan. Some of the injured are in critical condition and are being treated at several hospitals, GACA said, adding that the extent of the property damage is still being assessed.
GACA said the airport was targeted on Saturday afternoon amid “continued blatant attacks” on civil aviation facilities in the Kingdom. It suspended operations at the airport while it assessed the damage and checked the safety of its facilities.
GACA did not say who carried out the attack. A diplomatic source told AFP the airport was hit by a missile at around 3pm. Yemen’s Houthis, who claimed attacks on the airport earlier in the week, had not announced any attack on Saturday.
Saturday’s attack was the latest of several on Saudi airports this week. On Thursday, three Saudi citizens were killed in attacks on King Khalid International Airport and a parked Saudia aircraft, among them Saudia captain Hamoud Ali Alkalthami. Earlier attacks on Abha International Airport and the Riyadh airport on 6 and 7 October killed three residents, from Morocco, Algeria and Sudan.
The spokesperson for the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, Major General Turki Al-Malki, said this week that attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Kingdom would not go unpunished. He announced an operation that destroyed 82 Houthi military targets in Yemen.
Flight-tracking service Flightradar24 said 155 arriving and 161 departing flights were cancelled on Saturday, with flights bound for Riyadh diverted mainly to Jeddah. King Khalid International Airport urged travellers to contact their airline and confirm their flight status before heading to the airport.
Qatar Airways cancelled flights between Doha and Riyadh on 11 October, and Etihad cancelled several Abu Dhabi services to the capital through 12 October. EgyptAir and Air Cairo have also suspended their Riyadh flights until the airport reopens.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on Saudi citizens abroad whose flights to Riyadh were suspended or delayed to contact the Kingdom’s missions in the countries where they are for help and guidance.
The US, Canadian, German and Spanish embassies told their citizens to avoid the airport. A senior Western diplomat told AFP that several embassies had barred staff from travelling through the airport for the next week as a precaution.
Jordan, Egypt and Palestine were among the governments that condemned Saturday’s attack and expressed solidarity with the Kingdom. Earlier in the week, the UAE, Bahrain and the GCC Secretary-General condemned the attacks on Abha and Riyadh.
The attacks come as Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces press an offensive against the Houthis around the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
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