Multiple people wounded in blast at Riyadh airport, say eyewitnesses

Saturday's incident comes amid an escalation ofmissile strikesby Yemen's Houthis on the ​kingdom. The airport has already been attacked twice this week, leaving four people dead and others wounded, and badly damaging an aircraft. Flight-tracking site flightradar24 showed all flights to Riyadh had ​either been diverted or cancelled, with only a helicopter hovering over the airport ​at one point.

Read More:Iran's Pezeshkian says regional diplomacy must go beyond meetings, highlights dialogue, cooperation. The airport urged passengers to contact their airlines directly and check their flight ‌status ⁠before heading there. Kuwait Airways said it had cancelled flights to and from the Saudi capital due to what it described as the closure of Riyadh airport because of the "security situation" there.

Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways earlier cancelled multiple flights between their respective ​hubs and Riyadh, ​with some cancellations ⁠extending into Monday. Houthi attacks on Thursday and earlier in the week had already prompted a number of carriers to suspend ​or cancel services to the Saudi capital, shortly before Riyadh ​is due ⁠to hostmajor energy and investment conferences.

Organisers of those conferences said on Saturday they would go ahead as planned, and they sought to reassure attendees of their security. The ⁠Houthis have ​said airliners should avoid Saudi airspace, declaring it ​a zone of military operations after the Saudi-backed Yemeni government launched an offensive against the group ​earlier this month.