Diplomatic sources told AFP that Yemen's Houthi rebels were suspected of firing a missile at Riyadh International Airport in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, with dozens of people reported injured and witnesses describing panic inside the terminal. Saudi officials have not confirmed any latest attack or evacuation.
Passengers told AFP they heard an explosion while waiting to board, and another said he saw the attack happen and people were injured. One witness said he was at domestic gate 403 when he saw gate 401 hit, with people injured in front of him and everyone running. Three witnesses confirmed to AFP that people on site were being evacuated from the airport.
A source at a local hospital said five people were taken to intensive care after being injured at the airport, and said dozens were injured in total. A relative of one injured person said the person suffered cuts to both shoulders and arms from flying glass fragments and was rushed to hospital.
A diplomatic source told AFP that the Houthis are now attacking civilian targets and that Riyadh airport is a civilian facility. The source said the airport was hit by a missile at around 3 p.m. local time. Saudi's government media office and civil aviation authority had not responded to media queries about the incident.
Reuters reported that data from flight tracking site Flightradar24 showed all flights to Riyadh were diverted or cancelled at the time, and for a period only one helicopter was circling over the airport. Riyadh airport urged passengers to contact their airlines directly to confirm flight status before going to the airport.
Kuwait Airways subsequently announced it had cancelled all flights to and from the Saudi capital because Riyadh airport was closed due to the "security situation." Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways had earlier cancelled multiple flights between their respective hubs and Riyadh, with some suspensions to continue until the 12th.
