Hyderabad techie among 13 killed in Houthi strike on Saudi airport

NEW DELHI: An Indian national was among 13 people killed in one of the deadliest attacks launched by Iran-backed Houthi militants on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport Saturday.

The Indian embassy also confirmed that 11 Indians were among the more than 300 who were injured.The Indian who died is a 46-year-old man from Hyderabad. According to sources, Mohammed Yusuf, an IT professional from Mehdipatnam, was waiting with his family near a check-in kiosk to travel to Madina for Umrah when a projectile struck the airport premises. Debris from the impact reportedly fell on Yusuf, leaving him critically injured.

He later succumbed to his injuries at a hospital. His wife and two children, who were with him at the airport, are reportedly in critical condition.Ministry of external affairs (MEA) strongly condemned the repeated attacks on Riyadh's main airport over the past few days, including the "dastardly attack" on Oct 10. The ministry said in a statement that repeated attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are completely unacceptable and must cease immediately.

"We stand in solidarity with the people and the govt of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in defence of their sovereignty, and hope that peace and normalcy returns to the region at the earliest," said the ministry, while expressing condolences to the families of the deceased and wishing a speedy recovery to the injured in the attack.This was the second time India had condemned attacks on Saudi airports in the past few days, expressing solidarity with Riyadh. The dead from the third attack this week on the airport included four Saudis, two people from Bangladesh and one person each from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt, the Saudi civil aviation authority said. The attacks targeting the Saudi airports have been claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels (the Ansar Allah movement), an Iran-backed armed group.