Saudi authorities say 2 killed by falling debris at oil facility following a drone attack in Kingdom

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said Wednesday that debris from an intercepted drone killed two people and injured two others at an Aramco-operated oil field in the country’s southeast.

The ministry said the two people killed were Nepali and Filipino nationals, while the injured were Pakistani and Indian nationals.

The falling debris also sparked a fire in a contractor’s vehicle at the Shaybah oil field, the ministry said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia has seen multiple attacks on its airports and oil facilities launched by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels .

Last month, debris from an intercepted Houthi drone killed a Yemeni resident of Saudi Arabia. It was the first civilian casualty since the Houthis increased their attacks against the kingdom, targeting Saudi shipping and oil facilities.

Earlier this month, a limited fire broke out in an administrative building at Aramco, one of the world’s largest oil facilities, targeted in an attack in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, the energy ministry said at the time.

The attacks come as renewed fighting between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government forces has broken a four-year truce. The fighting in Yemen marked a fresh escalation in the widening Middle East crisis.

Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, which was struck multiple times by the Houthis this month and shut down on Oct. 10, was open for domestic flights Wednesday. Saudia and FlyNas were operating flights, according to FlightAware data. Major carriers, including Lufthansa and Air France, have canceled service through mid-November.

The Houthis have acknowledged attacking the airport, claiming without evidence that Saudi Arabia provided military equipment to government forces through the facility.