1 person killed in attack on eastern Saudi airport, authorities say
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority announced that one Saudi resident was killed in attacks Wednesday evening on King Fahad International airport in Dammam in Saudi Arabia on the Persian Gulf near Bahrain and Qatar.
The Civil Aviation authority also said eight people were injured and have been transferred to a hospital. The airport also suffered some material damages. Global flight-tracking service Flightradar24 said overnight Thursday on X that flights have been diverted away from the airport.
King Fahad airport has been attacked previously amid a wider wave of Houthi missile and projectile strikes targeting major airports in Saudi Arabia. The Iranian-backed Houthis have not commented on this attack. The Saudi Coalition announced that it intercepted 4 drone attacks in the Eastern region. This comes as two people were killed in attack on a Saudi oil facility earlier Wednesday.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back for updates. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said Wednesday that debris from an intercepted drone killed two people and injured two others at an Aramco-operated oil field in the country’s southeast.
The ministry said the two people killed were Nepali and Filipino nationals, while the injured were Pakistani and Indian nationals.
The falling debris also sparked a fire in a contractor’s vehicle at the Shaybah oil field, the ministry said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia has seen multiple attacks on its airports and oil facilities launched by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Last month, debris from an intercepted Houthi drone killed a Yemeni resident of Saudi Arabia. It was the first civilian casualty since the Houthis increased their attacks against the kingdom, targeting Saudi shipping and oil facilities.
Earlier this month, a limited fire broke out in an administrative building at Aramco, one of the world’s largest oil facilities, targeted in an attack in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, the energy ministry said at the time.
The attacks come as renewed fighting between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government forces has broken a four-year truce. The fighting in Yemen marked a fresh escalation in the widening Middle East crisis.
Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, which was struck multiple times by the Houthis this month and shut down on Oct. 10, was open for domestic flights Wednesday. Saudia and FlyNas were operating flights, according to FlightAware data. Major carriers, including Lufthansa and Air France, have canceled service through mid-November.
The Houthis have acknowledged attacking the airport, claiming without evidence that Saudi Arabia provided military equipment to government forces through the facility.
© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
