One person was killed and eight injured in an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday, the General Authority of Civil Aviation said.
The authority said the injuries ranged from minor to critical and that all the wounded were taken to hospital. The airport suffered some material damage, and the flight-tracking service Flightradar24 said flights were diverted away from it.
Earlier on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy said two people were killed by falling debris after air defences intercepted a drone aimed at a facility at the Shaybah oilfield, operated by Saudi Aramco. It said those killed were Nepali and Filipino nationals, and that the two injured were Pakistani and Indian nationals.
The US State Department ordered diplomats and their family members to leave its missions in Saudi Arabia, and plans to withdraw family members from several other US missions in the region, US officials told Reuters. The US Embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert about possible further Houthi attacks on the kingdom.
The Houthis had not commented on the Dammam attack. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted four drone attacks in the Eastern Region.
Background
The Houthis, a group in Yemen aligned with Iran, are fighting the internationally recognised Yemeni government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia. The Dammam attack follows a series of strikes on Saudi airports.
The civil aviation authority said an attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on 10 October killed 12 people and injured more than 300. A projectile strike on the same airport on 11 October killed one person and injured 11. Last month, debris from an intercepted Houthi drone killed a Yemeni resident of Saudi Arabia, the first civilian death since the Houthis stepped up their attacks on the kingdom.
Oil prices rose after the latest attacks. Brent crude futures gained $1.29, or 1.2 percent, to $110.11 a barrel on Thursday, according to market reports.
What it means
Saudi Arabia is one of the main destinations for Sri Lankan migrant workers, and remittances from the Gulf are an important source of foreign currency for Sri Lanka. The Energy Ministry’s statement on the Shaybah deaths did not name any Sri Lankans among the casualties.
Sri Lankans in the kingdom who need consular help can contact the Sri Lanka Embassy in Riyadh.
Sri Lanka imports its petroleum, so crude prices that stay high can raise the cost of the country’s fuel imports.
