RIYADH: Saudi authorities blamed Yemen’s Houthis for Saturday’s attack on King Khalid International Airport, the third this week, which killed at least 12 people and wounded 309 others.
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) identified four Saudi citizens and two Bangladeshis among the dead. Citizens of the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt accounted for the remaining fatalities.
A Saudi-led military coalition pledged to respond.
GACA confirmed that airlines diverted or cancelled all flights to Riyadh on Saturday. Airport operations stopped temporarily.
The head of the Houthi media office claimed on X that the group had forced the airport to close. Houthis have warned airlines to avoid Saudi airspace, which they have declared a military operations zone.
President Donald Trump of the United States said Washington was considering joining Saudi strikes against the Houthis. Reporters questioned him outside the White House after the latest airport attack.
“We may. We’re going to look at it,” he told reporters.
US embassy officials in Riyadh strongly advised American citizens to avoid the airport and surrounding areas.
People briefed on the emergency told Reuters that hospitals were overwhelmed as ambulances and helicopters brought in casualties. Some of the injured were in critical condition.
An injured traveller said they saw an object cross the sky before part of the ceiling near a departure gate collapsed. Another witness saw an explosion and injured people on the ground inside the airport.
Saudi Arabia’s threat warning system issued no alert before the attack.
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Saudi Arabia is conducting an air campaign in support of a ground offensive by Yemen’s government, which began on Monday. The government says it has carried out hundreds of strikes on Houthi-held territory.
Houthis accuse the coalition of killing civilians, including women and children.
Saudi Arabia entered Yemen’s war in 2015 at the head of an Arab coalition. A 2022 truce froze fighting before it unravelled over the summer.
Organisers of Riyadh’s upcoming energy and investment conferences had said before Saturday’s attack that their events would proceed as planned.
