Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh airport hit by second strike in two days

An international airport in the Saudi capital has been hit by a second strike in as many days, officials have said.

A Saudi military spokesman said a projectile had hit King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Sunday, causing a fire in one of its passenger halls. Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority said there had been injuries.

It comes a day after a strike on the same airport killed 13 people and injured 308 others, following similar strikes earlier this week.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who claimed responsibility for the strikes, warned airlines and passengers against using Saudi Arabian airports and airspace.

The Houthis have said they were targeting Saudi Arabia over its support for government forces in Yemen’s civil war, as well as an air strike on the airport in Sanaa.

Maj Gen Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition, said air defences had intercepted a missile near the airport in Riyadh, while authorities were dealing with the fire.

UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting suggested the UK could “potentially” provide more support for Saudi Arabia, while US President Donald Trump said the US would “make a decision” and “move very quickly” on whether to strike the Houthis.

Saturday’s strike was the deadliest single attack on a Gulf Arab country since the war between Israel, the US and Iran began in February.

Four Saudi nationals, two people from Bangladesh and one person each from the US, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt were among the dead, the Saudi civil aviation authority said. The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia said on Sunday that an Indian man had succumbed to the injuries he sustained in the attack.