Gunfire, blasts hit Philippine casino
• Gunshots and explosions erupted after midnight in a hotel and casino complex near Manila’s airport, sending hundreds fleeing into darkened streets early Friday in what police said was an attack by a lone gunman with no apparent links to terrorism.
A Filipino operative for ISIL, in a communiqué, immediately took responsibility for the attack. But police cast doubt on any such links.
It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed in the attack or even if it had concluded.
The violence unfolded as Muslim militants aligned with ISIL fended off government forces for a tenth day in the southern city of Marawi. That unrest had sparked fears that the militants might attack elsewhere to divert the focus of thousands of troops trying to quell the siege.
Gen. Ronald Dela Rosa, national police chief in the Philippines, said there was no concrete evidence that the attack was terrorism. He said one gunman was behind the attack and was still at large more than two hours after it began.
The gunman stole gambling chips, shot an LED monitor and set gambling tables ablaze by pouring gasoline on them, Dela Rosa said. But he said the assailant did not fire at people he met.
It was not clear how the gunman smuggled enough gasoline into the crowded casino to cause explosions and what prompted Dela Rosa to rule out terrorism so quickly.
Philippine police rushed to the Resorts World Manila complex early Friday after gunshots rang out and witnesses reported gunmen barging in at a mall in the commercial centre, where smoke began billowing from an upper floor.
Witnesses reported seeing injured people, including a SWAT officer who rushed to the scene and was reportedly fired upon. The Associated Press was working to confirm those reports.
About 90 minutes after the attack began, Resorts World Manila said in its Facebook account that it was “currently on lockdown following reports of gunfire from unidentified men.”
Philippine police cordoned off the area near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
“I heard many, many gunshots,” Julio Silva, a casino player who managed to dash out of the mall complex amid the gunfire, told DZMM radio network.
Silva said he saw a SWAT member who was shouting: “I was hit, I was hit.”
As news of the attack spread, U.S. President Donald Trump offered the thoughts and prayers of the American people 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.
The SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S. terrorism monitor, said an ISIL-linked Filipino operative who provides updates on clashes in Marawi claimed “lone wolf soldiers” of the group were responsible for the attack.