Toll from attack on Riyadh airport rises to 12, with hundreds wounded, sources say

The toll from the latest attack on Riyadh’s international airport has risen to at least 12, and 309 people are wounded, Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation agency says, with all flights diverted and Western governments telling citizens to avoid the area.

Earlier, a hospital source told AFP that at least two people had been killed in the attack.

There is no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident but Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have been escalating their missile strikes on Saudi Arabia, and claimed responsibility for the two earlier attacks this week.

The Saudi government’s media office does not immediately respond to questions on the incident and the casualty toll.

No official toll has been given.

The people briefed on the matter, who include two Western officials, warn that the number of dead and wounded was not a final toll. The strike occurred without warning, with no alert issued by Saudi Arabia’s threat warning system.

The wounded were evacuated to hospitals by ambulance and helicopter, with some in critical condition, the people say.

Operations at the kingdom’s busiest airport, servicing a city of around 8 million people, are temporarily suspended, the civil aviation authority says.

After the attack occurred, the Houthi military spokesperson retweeted his own post from before the attack, saying only pre-approved humanitarian flights were allowed to land at Riyadh airport, adding the words: “a reminder.”

The Houthi strikes earlier in the week left four people dead and heavily damaged a Saudi commercial airliner.