International
oi-Deepika S
New Delhi, Aug 31: A drone attack on Saudi Arabia airport has left eight people injured and damaged a civilian plane, state television reported. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
This was the second such strike on Abha airport in the last 24 hours. The earlier attack caused no casualties.
The Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Iran-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen did not elaborate on the attack or provide details about the casualties, beyond saying that its forces had “intercepted” the explosive drone.
Since 2015, Yemen’s Houthi rebels battling the Saudi-led military coalition have targeted international airports, along with military installations and critical oil infrastructure, within Saudi Arabia.
Houthi military officials have repeatedly claimed responsibility for drone attacks on facilities belonging to Saudi Arabia, reported Sputnik.
Over the past several months, Saudi territory has been the target of multiple attacks by Houthi rebels from neighbouring Yemen, where an internal conflict between government forces and rebels continues to rage on.
Riyadh has been supporting the Yemeni government since 2015, conducting air, land, and sea operations against the Houthis, who, in turn, often strike back with retaliatory attacks.
Meanwhile, A missile and drone attack hit the Al-Anad airbase in Lahj province on Sunday killing at least 30 troops, in one of the deadliest attacks in Yemen’s civil war in recent years.
Saudi Arabia strongly condemned and denounced an attack launched by the Houthi militia on a key military base in Yemen’s south, which killed and injured dozens of people, reported Arab News.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi group in Yemen said earlier that it intercepted a Houthi drone that was targeting Abha International Airport.
Shrapnel was scattered in the vicinity of the airport, the coalition said.
Ekhbaria TV said a second armed drone was intercepted, but debris wounded eight people and damaged a civilian airplane inside the airport. It did not give further details.
with PTI inputs