26 hurt as Houthis attack Abha international airport in Saudi Arabia

Representation picture

Dubai: An Indian woman was among 26 civilians injured in a missile attack carried out by Yemeni rebels on Abha international airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. The attack came a day after Riyadh said it intercepted two drones fired by the Houthi rebels, which controls a large part of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.

The attack on the Abha airport took place in the early hours of Wednesday and resulted in the injury of 26 civilians of different nationalities, the report said, adding that the wounded included one Indian woman and two Saudi children.

Eighteen of those injured were admitted to hospital for treatment of minor injuries and at least six have been discharged. Airport operations and air traffic also resumed after being disrupted for few hours. Claiming full responsibility for the attack, the rebels through an announcement on a Houthi-affiliated television channel said a cruise missile was used to carry out the attack. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to push back an advance by the Houthis and to restore to power President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. Since then, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, many of them civilians, pushing the Arab world's poorest country to the brink of famine.

The coalition members include the UAE, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Djibouti. The UN describes the Yemen conflict as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with 24.1 million -- more than two-thirds of the population -- in need of aid. Meanwhile, the Yemeni government, which the Houthis drove from Sanaa in 2014, said only military action will end the group's "terrorism", the report said. The UAE condemned the attack, saying it was proof of the Houthi's aggression and its determination to undermine regional security. Bahrain's Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa said the attack "is an act of terrorism". Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt and Djibouti also condemned the missile attack.

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