Pilot among 3 Saudi nationals killed in attacks on Riyadh airport, authorities say
“Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority said on Friday that three Saudi nationals were killed and several people were injured in two attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Thursday.…”
In a statement on X, the General Authority of Civil Aviation said the first attack targeted airport facilities, while the second struck an aircraft belonging to Saudi state carrier Saudia. The injuries ranged from minor to severe, and the attacks caused material damage, it said, adding that airport operations had resumed and air traffic had returned to normal.
Separately, the kingdom’s national carrier confirmed that a Saudia Airlines pilot was killed, and an aircraft was damaged at Riyadh airport. “It is with profound sadness that Saudia announces the passing of Captain Hamoud Ali Alkalthami,” the Saudi flag-carrier said in a statement, citing an “incident” at King Khalid International Airport.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Thursday they had attacked the airport with two cruise missiles. The group also said it had targeted an airport in the southwestern city of Najran, a claim Saudi authorities have not confirmed, and an airbase in Khamis Mushait with ballistic missiles.
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The Houthis say they are targeting the kingdom over its support for government forces in Yemen’s reignited civil war. Saudi Arabia says it is backing an offensive by Yemen’s UN-recognised government to take back territory from the Houthis.
The latest confirmed casualties come after Saudi authorities said on Wednesday that three people were killed in earlier strikes this week on Riyadh airport and Abha airport in the southwest of the country.
The conflict, now an overspill of the US-Iran war, has stoked further upheaveal in a region already destabilised by the wider war, and threatens to draw other states into mountain fighting.
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