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Eight Wounded in Houthi Drone Strikes on Saudi Abha Airport


Saudi airport personnel are pictured behind shrapnel-riddled glass at Abha airport in the popular mountain resort of Abha in the southwest of Saudi Arabia on August 31, 2021.
Saudi airport personnel are pictured behind shrapnel-riddled glass at Abha airport in the popular mountain resort of Abha in the southwest of Saudi Arabia on August 31, 2021.

At least eight people were wounded on Monday in Houthi drone strikes on Saudi Arabia's Abha airport that also damaged a civilian airplane, Saudi officials said.

Earlier, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi group in Yemen said it intercepted a Houthi drone that was targeting Abha International Airport.

Shrapnel was scattered in the vicinity of the airport, the coalition said.

State TV Ekhbaria said a second armed drone was intercepted, but debris wounded eight people and damaged a civilian airplane inside the airport.

A broken sign is seen at the entrance of Abha airport in the popular mountain resort of Abha in the southwest of Saudi Arabia on August 31, 2021.
A broken sign is seen at the entrance of Abha airport in the popular mountain resort of Abha in the southwest of Saudi Arabia on August 31, 2021.

General manager of the airport Ahmed al-Qahtani said one person was in a critical condition and all the wounded were treated in the local hospital.

"The airport hasn't cancelled any flight. We suspended the flights for security measures for several minutes or about half an hour," Qahatani said.

Reporters at the scene were shown shattered glass, damage in some ceilings of the terminal and holes in an Airbus A320 of the state-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) parked on the tarmac.

Travelers were lined up to check in for flights to the capital Riyadh and other Saudi cities.

The Houthis did not claim responsibility for the attack, but the Iran-aligned group regularly fires drones and missiles into Saudi Arabia.

The group's media reported more than 20 airstrikes by the coalition's warplanes on several Houthi-held Yemeni provinces after the airport attack. The coalition said it targeted drones and missile launchers.

The Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015, backing forces of the ousted government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fighting the Houthis.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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