Representative image. Z thomas, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Why it matters
Saudi Arabia is home to a large Indian workforce, many of them in the oil-rich Eastern Province where both of Wednesday's incidents took place. Repeated strikes on airports also disrupt flights between India and the Gulf, so families and travellers need to follow embassy and airline updates.
An Indian national was one of two people killed when King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, eastern Saudi Arabia, was attacked on the evening of Wednesday, 21 October 2026. Two more Indians were among the eight injured in the Dammam airport attack, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), the country’s aviation regulator, said on Thursday. The Indian Embassy in Riyadh said it was contacting the families.
A few hours earlier on the same day, another Indian resident was hurt in a separate drone incident at a Saudi Aramco oilfield. That makes four Indians in Saudi Arabia killed or injured in the Eastern Province in a single day.
What Saudi authorities said about the Dammam airport attack
GACA first reported one death and eight injuries on Wednesday night, Mint reported. In a follow-up statement posted on X on Thursday, it raised the death toll to two and named their nationalities: one Saudi citizen and one resident from India, Arab News reported, quoting the authority.
The eight injured were one Saudi citizen and residents from India, Yemen, Bangladesh and Nepal, with two each from India, Yemen and Bangladesh, according to the GACA statement carried by Arab News. Their injuries range from minor to severe, and all were taken to hospitals in the area.
The authority did not say what kind of weapon was used or who launched it. Flights were diverted away from the airport on Wednesday night, the tracking service Flightradar24 said. By Thursday, GACA said operations had resumed and air traffic was back to normal, while damage to the airport was still being assessed.
Dammam sits on the Gulf coast near Bahrain and Qatar. Its airport serves the Eastern Province, the region that holds most of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry and a large community of foreign workers.
Indian Embassy in Riyadh contacts the families
In a post on X, the Indian Embassy in Riyadh said Saudi authorities had informed it that one Indian was among the two people killed and that two Indians were injured, Siasat reported. The embassy said it was gathering more details and reaching out to the families. It offered condolences and wished the injured a quick recovery.
Neither the embassy nor the Saudi authorities have named the Indians who were killed or hurt. Their home states have not been reported either.
Second incident: an Indian hurt near the Shaybah oilfield
Earlier on Wednesday, Saudi air defences shot down a drone that was heading for a processing facility at Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oilfield, near the border with the United Arab Emirates, the Saudi energy ministry said. Falling debris from the drone killed two people, a Filipino and a Nepali, and injured two others, the ministry said in a statement quoted by Arab News and RTE.
The two injured were an Indian resident and a Pakistani resident, Arab News reported. The debris set fire to a vehicle belonging to a contractor, outside the facility’s boundary. The ministry said oilfield operations were not affected.
Separately, the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen said it had shot down four drones over the Eastern Province early on Thursday, Arab News reported.
Why Houthi attacks keep hitting Saudi airports
Saudi Arabia has faced near-daily attacks this month from Yemen’s Houthis, the armed group backed by Iran that has held Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since September 2014, RTE, Ireland’s public broadcaster, reported. A four-year truce in Yemen’s civil war broke down in June 2026, and fighting between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government has picked up since July. A Saudi-led military coalition has backed that government since 2015.
The fighting inside Yemen has also intensified. Yemen’s government forces said they carried out 835 strikes on Houthi targets in 24 hours and claimed about 285 fighters were killed or wounded, Gulf News reported. That figure has not been independently confirmed.
Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport was hit on 10 October, the deadliest attack in the kingdom in years. Mint, citing the aviation authority, put the toll at 12 dead and more than 300 injured; Siasat put it at 14 dead. Another strike on the same airport on 11 October killed one person and injured 11. King Fahd International Airport had also been targeted earlier in October, making Wednesday’s strike at least the second on Dammam this month.
The Houthis had not commented on the Dammam attack when Mint published its report. Their military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, separately claimed a missile strike on a military camp next to the airport in Aden, Yemen, Gulf News reported.
US orders staff out; airlines cut flights
On Wednesday, the US State Department ordered non-emergency staff at its missions in Saudi Arabia and their families to leave the country. Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the Houthis had increasingly attacked civilian airports and other critical infrastructure, causing civilian deaths and severe travel disruption, RTE reported. The US Embassy in Riyadh also issued a security alert warning of possible further attacks, Mint reported.
Air travel in the kingdom remains limited. Lufthansa and Air France have cancelled flights until mid-November, while Saudi carriers Saudia and Flynas were running a reduced number of flights at Riyadh, Gulf News reported, citing flight-tracking data.
The attacks are part of a wider conflict across West Asia that has also hit shipping. Earlier this week, 21 Indian seafarers were reported safe after an attack on a Kuwaiti tanker near the Strait of Hormuz, which NewsPlainly covered here.
What it means for Indians in Saudi Arabia
The Indian Embassy in Riyadh had already asked Indian nationals in the kingdom to stay alert after the Riyadh airport attacks earlier in October, according to reports at the time. The Indian Embassy in Riyadh has not announced any new advisory after the Dammam airport attack so far. Indian travellers flying to Dammam or Riyadh can check flight status with their airline before leaving, since diversions and cancellations have followed each attack.
Saudi authorities are still assessing the damage at Dammam. The embassy’s next update is expected to cover the identity of the Indian who died, the condition of the three injured Indians and arrangements for the families.
Frequently asked questions
How many Indians were killed in the Dammam airport attack?
One Indian was killed and two were injured, Saudi Arabia's aviation authority said on 22 October 2026.
Is Dammam airport open?
Yes. GACA said on 22 October that operations at King Fahd International Airport had resumed and air traffic was back to normal.
Who carried out the attack?
Saudi authorities did not say. The kingdom's airports have been hit repeatedly this month by Yemen's Houthis, who had not commented on the Dammam attack in early reports.