Blast at Riyadh airport leaves multiple people wounded, eyewitnesses say

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Oct 10, 2026 1:13 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

Many people were wounded in a blast at Riyadh's international airport on Saturday, according to two eyewitnesses and two people briefed on the matter, and travellers were evacuated from parts of the facility.

One of the eyewitnesses reported seeing an explosion and then seeing multiple people lying injured on the ground inside the airport. More than a dozen ambulances were seen rushing to the airport.

The Saudi government's media office and the Saudi civil aviation authority did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the incident.

Saturday's incident comes amid an escalation of missile strikes by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on the kingdom. The airport has already been attacked twice this week, leaving four people dead and others wounded, and badly damaging an aircraft.

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters Saturday he is evaluating whether the U.S. should join Saudi strikes on the Houthis.

"We may. We're going to look at it," he said. "We just found out about the recent attack. So we'll make a decision. We move very quickly."

Flight-tracking site Flightradar24 showed all flights to Riyadh had either been diverted or cancelled, with only a helicopter hovering over the airport at one point.

The airport urged passengers to contact their airlines directly and check their flight status before heading there.

On Saturday, the Canadian Embassy in Saudi Arabia published a statement, advising Canadians to avoid all travel to King Khalid International Airport due to the security situation.

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"Travellers should monitor local media, follow the instructions of local authorities, and check the status of their flights directly with their airline before departure," the statement reads.

It also recommends that Canadians move away from military debris or fragments, refrain from posting images of the blast on social media and register for emergency notifications.  

Kuwait Airways said it had cancelled flights to and from the Saudi capital due to what it described as the closure of Riyadh airport because of the "security situation" there.

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Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways earlier cancelled multiple flights between their respective hubs and Riyadh, with some cancellations extending into Monday.

Houthi attacks on Thursday and earlier in the week had already prompted a number of carriers to suspend or cancel services to the Saudi capital, shortly before Riyadh is due to host major energy and investment conferences.

Organizers of those conferences said on Saturday they would go ahead as planned, and they sought to reassure attendees of their security.

The Houthis have said airliners should avoid Saudi airspace, declaring it a zone of military operations after the Saudi-backed Yemeni government launched an offensive against the group earlier this month.