King Fahd Airport in Dammam: death toll from attack rises to two

The death toll from the attack on the evening of Wednesday, 21 October, on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, in eastern Saudi Arabia, has risen to two. Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation announced on Thursday, 22 October, that one of the wounded had died; DIAR's earlier report had cited one dead and eight wounded.

According to the authority, the two victims were a Saudi citizen and an Indian national living in the country. The eight wounded are one Saudi citizen and seven foreign workers and residents from India, Yemen, Bangladesh and Nepal, with injuries ranging from minor to serious. India's embassy in Riyadh also said it was seeking details of its citizen's death.

Dammam airport after the attack

The civil aviation authority said flights at the airport had resumed and air traffic had returned to normal, but damage assessment was continuing in coordination with the security agencies. Saudi officials have not yet said whether the attack was carried out with a drone or a missile, and have not officially named anyone as responsible.

The attack is the latest in a series that has targeted Saudi airports this month. In the missile attack of 10 October on King Khalid Airport in Riyadh, at least 12 people were killed and 309 wounded, according to the same authority, and before that attacks on the airports of Riyadh and Abha had left three dead and 36 wounded.

The Houthis, allies of the Islamic Republic

On Wednesday, 21 October, the US State Department, citing attacks on airports and civilian infrastructure, ordered non-essential staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia and said the Islamic Republic-backed Houthis had increasingly turned to hostility against Saudi Arabia. Britain had earlier also announced the deployment of Typhoon fighter jets to defend Saudi airspace.

Since September, the Houthis have widened their attacks on Saudi Arabia while advancing on the ground in Yemen; attacks that, together with the tension in the Strait of Hormuz, have extended the war of the Islamic Republic and its allies to its neighbours' civilian infrastructure.

The attack on King Fahd Airport in Dammam left two dead and eight wounded from five nationalities.