Manila assault not terrorism
Casino attacker’s identity still being determined; all 36 victims died from smoke inhalation
BEIJING — Philippine authorities scrambled Friday to explain a deadly and bizarre chain of events that they said began as a casino robbery and ended as a gaming-floor inferno that left at least 36 people dead from smoke inhalation.
The chaotic incident in the Philippine capital was first feared to be a terrorist attack, perhaps related to ongoing fighting between the army and Islamist militants on the southern island of Mindanao. In Washington, United States President Donald Trump said he was monitoring “the terrorist attack in Manila.”
But Philippine authorities insisted there was no evidence of terror- ist links in the early Friday mayhem, which ended when the suspected gunman apparently killed himself while holed up in a hotel room.
“All indications point to a criminal act by an apparently emotionally disturbed individual,” Ernesto Abella, a spokesperson for President Rodrigo Duterte, told reporters.
The shooter, armed with an M-4 assault rifle and bottles of gasoline, burst into the casino at the Resorts World Manila complex shortly after midnight, stole nearly $2.3 million worth of casino chips and set fire to gambling tables and carpeting, police said.
The attacker was later wounded in the thigh in an exchange of gunfire with a security guard and forced his way into a hotel room, which he set on fire before shooting himself in the head, police and the resort’s chief operating officer said. The guard was also wounded.
More than 50 other people were reported injured as they rushed to escape, officials said. The Islamic State, through its Amaq news agency, claimed responsibility Friday, saying that “Islamic State fighters carried out the Manila attack.”
A Philippine military spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, dismissed the assertion. The attack “does not have the slightest signature of terrorism whatsoever,” he said.
“Although the perpetrator gave warning shots, there apparently was no indication that he wanted to do harm or shoot anyone,” said Abella, the presidential spokesperson.