Riyadh airport hit again as Saudi coalition vows retaliation; Indian wounded in earlier strike dies

New Delhi: Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport came under renewed attack on Sunday, a day after a missile strike killed 12 people and injured 309, which prompted the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen to threaten retaliation against the Houthis. India’s embassy in Riyadh separately confirmed that an Indian national wounded in the Saturday attack had died, adding an Indian casualty to the unfolding crisis.

On Sunday, the coalition said an unidentified projectile struck Terminal 4 and caused a fire, while Saudi air defences intercepted a cruise missile near the airport. Its initial announcement provided no casualty figures for the latest incident and did not identify the projectile’s origin.

The Associated Press subsequently reported that the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attacks. The renewed strike came while the airport remained closed following Saturday’s assault on the complex housing terminals 3 and 4, which serve domestic flights.

The Indian embassy’s latest update said an Indian injured in Saturday’s attack had succumbed to his injuries on Sunday. It expressed condolences to his family and said it was coordinating with relatives to provide support and arrange the early repatriation of his mortal remains.

Earlier, the embassy had reported that 11 Indians were among the injured and said its officials had contacted local authorities and hospitals to establish their condition. Latest media reports in India put the Indian casualties at one dead and 10 injured.

The AIMIM leader and Hyderabad MP, Asaduddin Owaisi, said in a post on X that he had received information, explicitly “subject to verification”, that Mohammad Yousuf Ali had died and that his wife and two children were injured. He said he had spoken to the embassy’s deputy chief of mission and sought urgent attention from the external affairs minister, S Jaishankar, and the foreign secretary, Vikram Misri.

The embassy’s statement supplied no name or details about the deceased’s family, leaving Owaisi’s account of their identities and injuries awaiting official confirmation. It also clearly linked the Indian national’s death to injuries sustained on October 10, rather than to the renewed attack the following day.

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation had earlier announced 12 deaths and 309 injuries, with several wounded people in critical condition. That initial list comprised four Saudis, two Bangladeshis and one national each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan; it did not include an Indian, and no reconciled overall toll incorporating the embassy’s subsequent announcement was available in the reports reviewed.

The coalition’s spokesperson, Major General Turki al-Malki, promised a decisive response, describing the attack on civilian travellers and airport workers as a war crime. He said the response would comply with international humanitarian law, but the announcement did not specify its timing or scope.

The Houthis, meanwhile, renewed their warning to airlines, airport employees and travellers against using Saudi airports and airspace. The warning extended the threat beyond the damaged Riyadh facility, increasing uncertainty for commercial aviation across the kingdom.

The airport shutdown has already caused extensive disruption, with flight-tracking data cited by the Indian Express showing 606 cancelled arrivals and departures by Sunday morning. Emirates, Etihad Airways, flydubai and Air Arabia were among the affected carriers, with some cancellations extending beyond Sundat and no firm resumption of passenger operations established.

The United States president, Donald Trump, said Washington was considering joining Saudi military action against the Houthis, raising the possibility of greater American involvement. The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, called for attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure to stop, while the UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, warned that the escalation threatened regional security and complicated peace efforts.

India has condemned the repeated airport attacks, expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia and demanded an immediate halt to strikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure. The Indian death and injuries give New Delhi’s response an immediate consular dimension alongside its wider concern over regional stability.

The attacks come as Saudi Arabia supports Yemeni government forces seeking to reverse Houthi gains along the Red Sea coast, renewing hostilities after the relative easing that followed the UN-brokered truce in 2022. Fighting around the Bab al-Mandab Strait – the maritime passage connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden – also places the airport crisis within a broader confrontation affecting aviation, shipping and regional security.