Indian woman among 26 injured as Yemeni rebels attack Saudi airport

Dubai: An Indian woman was among 26 civilians injured in a missile attack carried out by Yemeni rebels on an airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, a media report said.

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 Abha Airport in Saudi Arabia took place in the early hours of Wednesday, the Arab News reported.

The attack 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 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.