Riyadh airport suspends operations after attack leaves several wounded

Saudi authorities said at least 12 people died and 309 were injured in an attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday. Some injured people were in serious condition. Reports do not give a consistent account of the weapon or the attack’s precise circumstances.

The Saudi-led coalition operating in Yemen blamed the Houthis and vowed a decisive response. A diplomatic source cited by Dawn attributed the strike to a missile, and the coalition described it as a war crime. The Houthis did not claim the Saturday attack in Dawn’s account, but threatened further action against Saudi airports, excluding Makkah and Madina, and warned travellers to avoid them. The group says its campaign is aimed at Saudi Arabia because of its support for Yemen’s government forces.

Separately, Dawn reported that Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority said two attacks took place at the airport on Thursday, killing three Saudi citizens and injuring several others. One targeted airport facilities and the other hit an aircraft belonging to state carrier Saudia, the authority said; it reported damage and injuries ranging from minor to severe, while airport operations later returned to normal. Saudia confirmed that a pilot died and an aircraft was damaged. The Houthis claimed those Thursday attacks, saying they used two cruise missiles. They also claimed strikes on an airport in Najran and an airbase in Khamis Mushait, but Saudi authorities had not confirmed those claims, according to Dawn.

Dawn reported that the Saturday dead included four Saudis, two Bangladeshis, and one person each from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt. It said airport operations had been suspended earlier that day, hospitals received casualties by ambulance and helicopter, and health officials summoned additional doctors. Dawn also reported flight suspensions or cancellations by Pakistan International Airlines, Lufthansa Group and three Indian carriers; the stated end dates differed among airlines.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack on Sunday and reaffirmed Pakistan’s security commitment to Saudi Arabia under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement. India’s Ministry of External Affairs also condemned the October 10 attack, The Hindu reported. Dawn said US President Donald Trump had indicated that Washington was weighing whether to join Saudi strikes against the Houthis.

Written automatically by AI from the outlets’ own reports, and not reviewed by an editor. It can be wrong — the original report is the authority.