ISIS claims Manila casino attack

ISIS militant group claimed on Friday that its "fighters" carried out an attack on a casino in the Philippine capital Manila that ignited a fire which killed 37 people.

"ISIS fighters carried out the attack in Manila in the Philippines yesterday," the group's self-styled Amaq news agency said, confirming an earlier SITE report quoting an "ISIS operative" saying the group was responsible, reported AFP. Manila police initially didn't suspect a terrorist act.

A gunman stormed a crowded Manila casino early Friday and used gasoline to set gambling tables on fire, creating clouds of smoke that killed at least 37 people, police said. The gunman fled with more than $2 million in stolen casino chips, then forced his way into a room in an adjoining hotel and killed himself.

Authorities suspect the man, who has not yet been identified, was trying to rob the casino at Resorts World Manila, a complex of hotels, restaurants, stores and a sprawling multi-floor gambling area.

The gunman who set fire was likely is allegedly a foreigner, the Manila police chief said. “He looks caucasian, he talks English, he’s big and he’s white, so he’s probably a foreigner,” Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde told reporters.

According to a Reuters report, the Philippine police said on Friday they were looking at a “person of interest” in connection with the attack. Tomas Apolinario, chief of Manila’s southern police district, said the person was still alive and was believed to be a Philippine national.

A tourist wearing a bathrobe gestures after he was evacuated from the Resorts World Manila after gunshots and explosions were heard in Pasay City, Metro Manila on June 2, 2017. (Reuters)

“Either he lost in the casino and wanted to recoup his losses or he went totally nuts,” said Metropolitan Manila police Chief Oscar Albayalde. While an ISIS group-linked Filipino said on social media that “lone wolf soldiers” from the group were behind the attack, police noted the man didn’t shoot anyone he encountered. The only gunshot wound was a guard at the complex who accidentally shot himself, authorities said.

“He would have shot all the people gambling” if his goal was terrorism, national police chief Ronald dela Rosa said. None of the bodies had gunshots, authorities said.

Police saw no connection to nearly two weeks of fighting with Muslim militants aligned with the Islamic State group in the southern city of Marawi.

Dela Rosa said security video showed the gunman ignoring a guard who tried to question him at the complex’s entrance, then going straight to the casino. He stuffed a backpack with gambling chips, fired his assault rifle at TV screens and set gambling tables on fire by pouring gasoline onto them from a 2-liter bottle he carried, dela Rosa said. It was not clear how he smuggled the gasoline and rifle into the crowded casino.

The gunman, whom dela Rosa described as “white, with a mustache,” about 6 feet tall and English speaking, fled the gambling area and barged into a room on the 5th floor of Maxims Hotel, which is part of the Resorts complex. He lay down on the bed, covered himself with a blanket, doused himself with gasoline and then set himself on fire, dela Rosa said. He carried no identity documents, police said.

The bag of high-value gambling chips - with an estimated worth of 113 million to 130 million pesos, or more than $2 million - was found in a toilet.

The attack sent hundreds of people fleeing through the complex and into the night. A South Korean died of a possible heart attack suffered during the evacuation, the Foreign Ministry said. More than 70 people suffered mostly minor injuries in the stampede to escape.

Ronald Romualdo, a maintenance worker at Resorts World, said he and his colleagues heard gunshots and saw people smashing the windows on the second and third floors to escape.

“We took out a ladder to save them. We were able to save many of them,” he said. “But one woman I was trying to save fell from the second floor. ... I could not carry her.” He said the woman was not moving after she fell, but he didn’t know what happened to her.

About 90 minutes after the attack began, Resorts World Manila said on its Facebook page that it was on lockdown following reports of gunfire and it was working to ensure the safety of guests and workers.

As news of the attack spread, President Donald Trump offered America’s thoughts and prayers to the Philippines.

“It is really very sad as to what’s going on throughout the world with terror,” he said from the White House Rose Garden. Trump said he was “closely monitoring the situation.”

The SITE Intelligence Group, a US terrorism monitor, said an ISIS group-linked Filipino operative who provides daily updates on the clashes in Marawi claimed ISIS “lone wolf soldiers” were responsible for the attack.

An English message by the operative was distributed across several pro-IS Telegram chat groups, SITE said. According to SITE, he wrote: “The lone wolf soldiers of Khilafah attack the heart of Kufar the city of Manila in Resort World.”

The unrest in Marawi has sparked fears that militants might attack elsewhere to divert the focus of thousands of troops trying to quell the siege. But dela Rosa said, “We cannot attribute this to terrorism without concrete evidence.”

(with AFP and Reuters)