Cairo: A missile struck a passenger terminal of the King Khalid International Airport at Riyadh on Saturday and many were wounded, according to an official.
The airport has been attacked again, regional officials said, two days after three Saudi citizens including a pilot were killed there.
One official said the Riyadh airport had been evacuated, and the other said air traffic had stopped. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorised to speak to the media.
Flights to Riyadh diverted elsewhere, the Flightradar24 tracker said, almost four hours after the last flight landed at 2:05 pm. Kuwait Airways said it was cancelling flights because the airport had closed. Canada's embassy advised citizens to avoid all travel to the airport, noting “ongoing military activity.”
The airport has been targeted in an extraordinary series of attacks in the week since a Saudi-led coalition launched a major military offensive against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the earlier attacks, including another on Wednesday that killed a Sudanese national and wounded eight other people. There was no immediate Houthi statement Saturday.
The Saudi government-run Centre for International Communication, which oversees foreign media in the kingdom, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Riyadh resident, Ahmed Sayed, told The Associated Press he heard at least two loud explosions that rocked the capital.
The airport issued a terse alert telling passengers to check their flight status with airlines before heading to the airport. At least 225 flights at the airport had been cancelled over the past 24 hours, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware.
Fighting in Yemen between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces has escalated, with the Saudi-led coalition providing air support for government forces in an attempt to reverse recent Houthi gains along the Red Sea.
The rebels' gains gave them better surveillance of shipping on a corridor that's a crucial alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been attacking ships.
Though the Houthis have told the AP and others they are only targeting Saudi shipping as part of a blockade in retaliation for one imposed on them, concerns about wider attacks persist. The Houthis previously attacked other ships after the war in Gaza began, calling it solidarity with Palestinians. A US bombing campaign ended that.