Riyadh airport reopens as explosions are heard in Saudi capital

Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport opened terminals for domestic and international flights on Sunday 25 October, after weeks of Houthi attacks disrupted operations. Earlier that morning, an AFP journalist reported hearing three explosions in the Saudi capital, but the account did not establish that anything had struck the airport again.

Residents had received alerts warning of a threat from the air. An ANP/AFP report published by Nieuws.nl said explosions could be heard at the airport. The fuller AFP account, however, says its journalist heard the blasts while in Riyadh and does not identify where they occurred.

Saudi military spokesman Maj Gen Turki al-Malki said air defences had intercepted a ballistic missile and a drone fired by the Houthis early on Sunday, according to the Associated Press. Whether those interceptions explain the sounds heard by the AFP journalist is unclear.

AP reported that the airport had opened terminals 1 and 2. An airport notice quoted by Gulf News assigned the first to domestic flights and the second to international flights operated by national carriers. Limited domestic services had already resumed the previous week, AP said. The airport advised passengers with bookings to check their flights with their airlines before travelling.

The 13 deaths and more than 300 injuries cited in the ANP/AFP report relate to an attack on 10 October, not to Sunday’s explosions. AP later put the toll from early-October strikes on a complex housing two other airport terminals at 17 dead and more than 330 injured.