Twelve dead, 309 injured in attack blamed on Houthis on Riyadh airport

The Saudi civil aviation authority announced a death toll of 12 and 309 injured in an attack on Saturday, the deadliest in more than ten years in the kingdom, attributed to pro-Iranian Houthi fighters against Riyadh airport, where operations were suspended. It was the worst attack in Saudi Arabia since a suicide bomb attack by the Islamic State (IS) group that killed 21 worshipers at a Shiite mosque in Al-Qatif (east) in May 2015.

Four Saudis and eight foreigners, including an American, are among the dead in Riyadh, the authority said in a statement. “The attack also left 309 injured,” some of whom suffered “serious injuries,” she added, also reporting “material damage.”

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The military coalition led by Saudi Arabia in support of the internationally recognized government of Yemen also announced in the evening the fall of a projectile near the airport of Dammam, in the east of the kingdom. This airport, along with that of Jeddah (west), is an alternative to Riyadh airport, closed since Saturday. Another projectile was intercepted southeast of Riyadh.

Doctors called urgently to hospitals

In the capital, doctors were urgently called during the day to go to hospitals to treat the injured. Several Western embassies have recommended their staff avoid the airport for a week, according to a Western diplomat.

Among the victims, one was an Egyptian crew member working for a Saudi airline. The second was a Palestinian with Egyptian travel documents, a medical source from a local hospital told AFP. A diplomatic source said the attack was carried out by the Houthis.

Pro-Iranian fighters in Yemen had already claimed responsibility for strikes on the airport on Wednesday and Thursday in which three Saudis, including a pilot, died. On Wednesday, three other people were killed, Egyptian, Algerian and Sudanese nationals.

The scale and frequency of attacks targeting Riyadh in recent days are unprecedented since 2014 and the start of the war in Yemen pitting the Houthis against Yemeni government forces who had received military support from a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia from 2015.