By Desire Emmanuel with Agency Reports
Saudi Arabia has said at least 12 persons were killed and more than 300 were wounded in an attack by Yemen’s Houthis on the King Khalid International airport near its capital, Riyadh.
The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said the attack on Saturday killed at least four Saudi citizens and two Bangladeshis, according to reports by Al Jazeera on Sunday.
The dead also included one person each from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt.
At the latest count, at least 309 people were wounded, it said.
GACA added that some of the wounded were in critical condition and that all were receiving medical care in hospital.
The attack – which also caused property damage – marked the third assault by the Houthis on the international airport this week. Houthi attacks on King Khalid airport on Thursday killed at least three Saudi citizens, including a pilot, according to GACA.
Operations at the airport were temporarily suspended, with GACA saying officials were assessing the damage.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen called the attack a “full-fledged war crime.”
Spokesperson, Major-General Turki al-Malki, said the coalition would “respond decisively to this terrorist attack in accordance with the Customary International Humanitarian Law”.
Al-Malki also confirmed a separate incident, saying in a post on X that “a projectile fell in the vicinity of King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.”
Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry, reporting from Sanaa, said the Houthis had signalled that King Khalid International and other airports in Saudi Arabia would be among their main targets.
The attacks come as fighting intensified in Yemen, with forces loyal to the country’s internationally recognised government fighting the Iran-backed Houthis for control of the country.
Saudi Arabia has waged an air campaign in support of the Yemeni government’s ground war and claimed hundreds of strikes on Houthi-held territory, including the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
The head of the Houthi media office said in a post on X after Saturday’s attack that the group had “shut down Riyadh international airport.”
