The attack on the airport of the capital of Saudi Arabia killed 12 people and injured more than 300

The attack on Riyadh International Airport on Saturday killed at least 12 people and injured more than 300 others, authorities said. The strike is being called the deadliest in more than 10 years. It came as Saudi Arabia launched an operation against Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Houthis have not yet claimed responsibility for the new attack on the airport.

The country's civil aviation authority said that among those killed in the third attack in a week on the airport of the capital of Saudi Arabia are four citizens of the country, two citizens of Bangladesh, as well as one citizen each of the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt.

According to the latest official data, 309 people were injured.

US President Donald Trump said Washington is considering joining Saudi Arabia's strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen.

Two previous attacks on King Khalid International Airport this week killed four people and left a Saudi commercial plane on the tarmac severely damaged.

The strikes exposed vulnerabilities in Saudi Arabia's air defense system, which is waging an air campaign against the Iran-backed Houthis in support of the Yemeni government's ground operations, Reuters comments.

An eyewitness who was at the airport waiting to board a flight said he heard an explosion, while another said he witnessed an impact that caused panic among passengers.

"I was at gate 403 in the domestic terminal," he told AFP. “I saw the impact hit gate 401 and saw the wounded right in front of me. Everyone started running."

A medical source told AFP that Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health had ordered emergency department doctors to be called to hospitals in the capital to treat the injured.

“We were told we were dealing with a 'major emergency'. The wounded are being transported to hospitals throughout Riyadh,” the source said, adding that many of them are in critical condition.

Another source at one of the local hospitals said five people injured at the airport were in intensive care, and "dozens" of people were injured in total.

The Houthis have repeatedly attacked Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers since a truce in the long-running conflict with Yemen's Riyadh-backed government collapsed in July.