One killed and eight injured in attack on Dammam international airport, Saudi Arabia

One person was killed and eight others were injured in an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, in eastern Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday evening, the kingdom's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) confirmed on Thursday.

In an official statement posted on X, GACA said the attack took place on the evening of October 21, 2026, and that the injured, whose wounds range from minor to critical, were taken to hospitals. The person killed was a resident of Saudi Arabia, according to the official report. The authority added that the attack caused material damage, the extent of which is still being assessed, and that further updates will be provided.

It is the latest episode in an escalation of attacks on Saudi civilian infrastructure. Earlier the same day, the Ministry of Energy reported that two people were killed when air defenses intercepted a drone that was attempting to strike an Aramco facility at the Shaybah oilfield. In a separate statement, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Brigadier General Turki al-Malki, announced that air defense systems intercepted and destroyed four unmanned aerial vehicles over the kingdom's Eastern Province.

The escalation intensified with the recent attacks on Riyadh's airport: on October 10, an attack on King Khalid International Airport left 13 people dead and more than 300 injured, according to the Indian Embassy in Riyadh after one of its citizens died of his wounds; on October 11, another attack on the same terminal killed a Pakistani national and injured 11 people, according to GACA.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of State ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government employees and their family members from Saudi Arabia amid the growing threat, as confirmed by spokesman Tommy Pigott. The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert warning of possible further attacks on the kingdom.

Photo: Reuters

Source: Daily Prabhat (ANI)