Ministry of Interior said that drone attacks caused fires at two Saudi Aramco facilities, adding that the blazes are under control.
One of the facilities is located in Abqaiq, near Dammam in the Kingdom's Eastern Province. The other facility is located in the Hijrat Khurais oilfield.
“At 4 a.m. on Saturday morning, Aramco’s industrial security teams fought two fires in two of the company’s facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais after they were targeted by drones... the two fires were controlled and contained, and the related authorities have begun investigating,” the ministry said in a statement. The US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia John Abizaid condemned on Saturday the drone attacks that targeted two Saudi Aramco facilities.
On the official Twitter page of the US Mission to Saudi Arabia, Abizaid said, “The US strongly condemns today’s drone attacks against oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais. These attacks against critical infrastructure endanger civilians, are unacceptable, and sooner or later will result in innocent lives being lost.”
According to Al Arabiya, security officials have been at the scene containing the fires since they broke out at dawn on Saturday. No residential areas are located near the sites and there were no causalities so far and that traffic is flowing smoothly in the surrounding area of the Aramco facility in Abqaiq.
Yemen’s Houthi militia claimed responsibility for drone attacks on two Saudi Aramco oil installations in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province on Saturday, the militia’s military spokesman said on Al Masirah TV.
The broadcaster said the Houthis had deployed 10 drones against the sites in Abqaiq and Khurais, and the militia pledged to widen the range of its attacks on Saudi Arabia, which leads a coalition fighting them in Yemen. The Iran-backed Houthi militia has also launched several other drones targeting the Kingdom.
On May 14, the Houthis also claimed an attack by explosive-laden drones that targeted Saudi Aramco pipelines in Al-Dawadmi. — Al-Arabiya English
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