REUTERS -- 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.
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.
PIA’s decision follows similar moves by several other airlines, including Lufthansa Group and three Indian carriers, which suspended flights to Riyadh on Thursday.
A Lufthansa spokesperson told Reuters that the German group’s airlines would suspend flights to the Saudi capital until October 16, citing “current developments in the Middle East”.
India’s largest airline, IndiGo, said it had cancelled all flights to and from Riyadh until Oct 9. Air India and Akasa Air also told Reuters that they had cancelled flights to and from the Saudi capital until October 10.
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.
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.
A thick black column of smoke and flames rose from Riyadh airport in a video verified by Reuters. A witness and three people briefed on the matter said a stationary commercial plane had caught fire and caused the smoke, though the fire was later put out.
After loud booms echoed across Riyadh on Thursday morning, several multinational firms in the King Abdullah Financial District told staff to work from home or evacuated employees, according to people familiar with the matter.
Diplomats were instructed to shelter in place at their embassies, and at least one international school sent children into a basement for safety.
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.
