Riyadh/New Delhi, October 22: An Indian resident was killed in an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, the second Indian to die in an attack on a major Saudi airport this month. Saudi authorities have confirmed two deaths in total.

The attack came on Wednesday evening, October 21. On Thursday, the kingdom’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said two people had been killed and eight injured.

What officials have said

GACA’s first update spoke of one death, an expatriate. It later raised the toll to two, a Saudi citizen and an Indian resident. Among the eight injured were one Saudi citizen, two Indians, two Yemenis, two Bangladeshis and one Nepali. Some are seriously hurt, and the authority said injuries ranged from minor to critical.

Everyone who was hurt was rushed to hospital. The airport itself suffered material damage, which GACA is assessing with security agencies. Even so, flights are back to normal, and operations resumed on Thursday.

What India has said

The Indian Embassy in Riyadh posted on X that Saudi authorities had told it one Indian was among the dead and two more were injured. It said it was trying to get more details and was in touch with the families, whose welfare it called its highest priority. The dead man’s name has not been released.

Another incident that night

On the same night, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said two people died, and two were hurt by falling debris after air defences intercepted a drone aimed at a processing facility at Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil field. Those injured included one Pakistani and one Indian resident. Reports don’t say whether this and the Dammam attack are connected.

Who did it?

No one has been named so far. None of the reports I reviewed said who carried out the Dammam attack, and the weapon hasn’t been officially described. Al Jazeera called it the latest in a run of strikes on Saudi infrastructure as fighting between Houthi forces and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government grows more intense.

Earlier this month, the Houthis claimed attacks on Riyadh. An attack on King Khalid International Airport on October 10 killed 13 people, including an Indian, and wounded hundreds. That airport stayed shut for days.

Why Indians are watching closely

Saudi Arabia has one of the largest Indian communities abroad, mostly people working in construction, services, healthcare, and the oil sector. Three attacks in about two weeks, two of them at airports, will worry families at home and anyone planning a trip.

King Fahd International is the kingdom’s third-busiest airport, with more than 9 million passengers a year, and many Indian workers in the Eastern Province pass through it.

If you are travelling

Check your airline’s flight status before leaving for the airport, keep an eye on advisories from Saudi authorities and the Indian Embassy, and save emergency numbers. Families worried about relatives in Saudi Arabia can contact the Indian Embassy in Riyadh or the consulate in Jeddah.

What comes next

The things to watch are details from GACA and the Saudi government on the cause and who is responsible, how the injured are doing, the identity of the Indian victim, and any statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

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