Riyadh Airport Attack Kills 12 and Injures 309, Saudi Officials Say
Saudi aviation authorities reported a sharply higher casualty toll after the October 10 attack. An American citizen was among those killed.
Twelve people were killed and 309 injured in the October 10 attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority said, according to Reuters. Some of the wounded were in critical condition.
The Iran backed Houthis claimed responsibility, Reuters reported. The latest figures put the human toll well above the initial reports of injuries and airport evacuations, as emergency crews took casualties to hospitals.
Victims from eight countries
The authority’s breakdown, reported by Reuters, listed four Saudi citizens and two Bangladeshi nationals among the dead. One citizen each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan was also killed. Together, those figures account for the 12 reported deaths.
Reuters reported that ambulances and helicopters brought wounded people to hospitals, citing people briefed on the response. The figure of 309 is an injury count, not an additional death toll. Authorities had not provided a complete public breakdown of the severity of all those injuries in the reporting reviewed.
An American death gives the attack a direct human consequence for the United States as Washington considers its response. It does not, by itself, establish that American travellers were singled out or that a US military response has been approved.
Flights disrupted after the strike
Saudi aviation authorities temporarily suspended airport operations and diverted flights, Reuters reported. The US embassy urged Americans to avoid the airport and surrounding areas. Travellers should consult their airline before setting out, because the reported suspension does not establish the status of any particular flight at a later time.
Reuters described the strike as the third attack on the airport that week. Earlier attacks had already caused deaths and damaged a Saudi commercial aircraft. The new toll concerns the October 10 attack and should not be combined with earlier casualty figures without a separate accounting.
The airport serves Saudi Arabia’s capital and international connections as well as domestic travel. Disruption there affects passengers far beyond the immediate site, while the casualty list shows that the dead came from several countries.
Trump leaves US involvement open
President Donald Trump said the United States might participate in Saudi strikes against the Houthis and would review the latest attack before deciding, Anadolu and The Jerusalem Post reported. He did not announce an approved operation or identify targets.
Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014. The latest airport attacks place civilian aviation at the centre of the renewed confrontation. The casualty figures remain attributed to Saudi authorities through news reporting; the original aviation authority casualty bulletin was not independently retrieved for this article.
