One dead, eight injured in Saudi airport attack

An attack targeting the King Fahd International Airport in eastern Saudi Arabia's Dammam killed one person and injured eight others yesterday evening, the kingdom's civil aviation authority said.

The authority said in a statement that injuries from the attack ranged from "minor to serious" and that material damage to the airport was also being assessed.

It did not describe what type of attack occurred, but the kingdom's airports have been targeted repeatedly with projectiles in recent days by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis.

As a result of the recent attacks, the United States has ordered non-essential US embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia, the State Department said.

"Iranian-supported Houthis have increasingly engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure resulting in civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a social media post.

"The safety and security of Department personnel and their families remain our highest priority," he added.

A diplomatic source in the Middle East told reporters that some families of US embassy personnel were also being withdrawn in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain.

However, Mr Pigott stressed that the order was for the departure of non-emergency embassy staff and their families in Saudi Arabia only.

Saudi Arabia has come under near-daily attacks this month from the Iran-backed Houthis, including a strike on Riyadh's international airport that was the kingdom's deadliest in years, as the war with the group escalates.

Yesterday, the Saudi energy ministry said that falling debris from a successful interception of a drone targeting an oil facility killed two people and injured two others.

"The attempted attack resulted in the deaths of two individuals, a Filipino and a Nepali, and injuries to two others," the ministry said in a statement.

It did not say who launched the drone aimed at Shaybah oil field near the UAE border.

In June, a four-year-old truce in Yemen's civil war collapsed, reviving the conflict that dates back to 2014.

A Saudi-led coalition has backed the internationally recognised government since 2015.