Riyadh airport evacuation reported after another attack; Saturday casualties unconfirmed

Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport was reportedly attacked and evacuated on Saturday, October 10, according to the Associated Press, two days after deadly strikes at the Saudi capital’s airport. Flights were disrupted and passengers were told to check with their airlines, while Saudi authorities had not confirmed Saturday’s reported attack or evacuation in the available reporting.

AP attributed the new attack and evacuation to two regional officials who were not authorised to speak publicly. Euronews separately reported a further attack, citing a diplomatic source, and quoted witnesses who described an explosion and people fleeing. Neither account established who was responsible for Saturday’s incident.

What is known about Saturday’s airport reports

A Riyadh resident, Ahmed Sayed, told AP he heard at least two loud explosions in the capital. AP also reported that ambulances were seen heading towards the airport. Euronews quoted one witness who said they heard an explosion while waiting to board and another who said they saw injured people near gates 401 and 403 in the domestic terminal.

An unnamed source at a hospital in Riyadh told Euronews that dozens of people had been injured, most of them Saudi nationals, and that at least five were treated in intensive care. Saudi authorities had not confirmed those Saturday figures in the reporting available at publication. AP gave no Saturday casualty count.

How flights and passengers were affected

The airport advised passengers to check their flight status with airlines before travelling, AP reported. Flight tracking data cited by AP showed Riyadh-bound flights diverting; at the time of its report, nearly four hours had passed since the last landing, at 2:05 p.m. local time. Those observations describe the disruption at that point, rather than establishing when normal operations might resume.

Kuwait Airways said it cancelled its Kuwait–Riyadh and Riyadh–Kuwait flights on Saturday because the airport was closed amid the security situation. AP reported that at least 225 flights at Riyadh airport had been cancelled over the preceding 24 hours, citing FlightAware. It also reported suspensions by Air India, FlyDubai, Lufthansa Group and Pakistan International Airlines affecting Riyadh and other Saudi airports for the following days.

Travel warnings extended beyond the airport’s own advice. AP reported that Canada’s embassy told citizens to avoid the airport because of ongoing military activity. Euronews said the Canadian, German and Spanish embassies had warned their citizens to stay away. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency said missile and drone attacks, together with attempts to intercept them, increase the risk that a civilian aircraft could be misidentified, according to AP.

How the new reports follow Thursday’s deadly strikes

Saturday’s reports followed two attacks on King Khalid International Airport facilities and a Saudia aircraft on Thursday, October 8. Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said those attacks killed three Saudi citizens, including an airline pilot, and injured several people of different nationalities, Al Jazeera reported. The authority also reported damage to airport property and the aircraft. Those confirmed deaths belong to Thursday’s attacks, not to the unconfirmed Saturday casualty reports.

Airport operations had resumed and air traffic had returned to normal after Thursday’s attacks, according to Saudi media reports cited by Al Jazeera. Houthi spokespeople claimed earlier strikes on Riyadh airport. That earlier claim does not establish responsibility for Saturday’s reported incident, for which AP found no immediate Houthi statement.

The renewed disruption comes amid fighting involving the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. Al Jazeera reported that Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s internationally recognised government asked the UN Security Council on Friday to address the escalation. AP reported that Saudi and Omani foreign ministers spoke by phone on Saturday about diplomatic ways to reduce regional tensions, according to Saudi Arabia.

The immediate questions are whether Saudi authorities will confirm Saturday’s reported attack and evacuation, establish a casualty count and identify the cause. The available accounts also do not establish how long the airport closure will last or when its operations will return to normal. Passengers should rely on their airline’s current flight status before setting out, as the airport advised.