MANILA — A ****** burst into a casino in the Philippine capital on Friday, setting gaming tables alight and ******* at least 36 people who suffocated in thick *****, in an ****** claimed by Islamic State but which officials believe was a botched robbery.
The ****** ****** himself in a hotel room after being shot and ******* by security officers at the Resorts ***** Manila entertainment complex, ****** said. A second “person of interest” who was in the casino at the time was cooperating with the *************, ****** said.
Most of the **** suffocated in the *****. Many guests and staff had tried to hide from the ******* rather than get out of the building when ****** began shortly after midnight (1600 GMT) and fell ****** to the *****, the **** bureau said.
“Islamic State fighters carried out the Manila ****** in the Philippines,” the militant group’s Amaq news agency said.
But that was quickly rejected by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, who said all the evidence pointed to an attempt to steal casino chips. ****** said they were not looking at other motives.
A suspected ****** is seen in the Resorts ***** Manila entertainment complex in Pasay city, metro Manila, Philippines in this combination of pictures taken from close circuit television (CCTV) handed out by Philippine National ****** and released on June 2, 2017. Philippine National ******/Handout via Reuters
“This is plain and simple propaganda,” Esperon told Reuters.
“If the lone ****** was really an IS *********, why did he not shot and **** people in the casino? He only went for the casino chips.”
The IS claim, which came nearly 24 hours after the ******, also contradicted a statement from Ernesto Abella, a spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte, who said there was no evidence linking it to fighting between government troops and Islamist militants in the country’s south.
“All indications point to a criminal act by an apparently emotionally disturbed individual,” Abella told a news conference. “Although the perpetrator gave warning *****, there apparently was no indication that he wanted to do harm or shoot anyone.”
Oscar Albayalde, chief of the capital’s ****** office, said those who **** were in the casino’s main gaming area.
“What caused their ****** is the thick *****,” he told reporters. “The room was carpeted and of course the tables, highly combustible.”
A Resorts ***** official said the **** included 22 guests.
A tourist wearing a bathrobe gestures after he was evacuated from the Resorts ***** Manila after ******** and ********** were heard in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro
***** IN ROOM 510
At dawn, the body of the suspected ****** was found in a hotel room in the smoldering complex, which is close to Manila’s airport and an air force base, ****** said.
“He burned himself inside the hotel room 510,” national ****** chief Ronald dela Rosa told a news conference. “He lay down on the bed, covered himself in a thick blanket and apparently doused himself in gasoline.”
Resorts ***** Chief Operating Officer Stephen Reilly said casino guards had shot and ******* the ****** – ***** with what authorities described as a “baby armalite” – during the ******.
“Severe loss of ***** from the ******* wound significantly slowed down the assailant and resulted to his holing up in the room where he took his own life,” Reilly said.
Officials said at least 54 people were hurt, some seriously, as they rushed to escape what was at first was believed to have been a militant ******.
Survivor Magdalena Ramos, who was a guest at the hotel, said people began shouting “****! ****!” when the ******* began. The 57-year-old said she hid in a kitchen and then fled when the ***** became too thick.
But ****** quickly said they did not believe the ******** had any militant connections.
“We cannot attribute this to *********,” national ****** chief dela Rosa told DZMM radio.
“We are looking into a robbery angle because he did not hurt any people and went straight to the casino chips storage room. He parked at the second floor and barged into the casino, ******** large TV screens and poured gasoline on a table setting it on ****,” he said.
Earlier reports said the ****** may have been white, but ****** later said he appeared to be Filipino, although they were still establishing his nationality.
Kimberly Molitas, a spokeswoman for the capital’s ****** office, said 113 million pesos ($2.27 million) worth of casino chips stolen during the raid had been recovered.
Evacuated employees are seen at the entrance of a hotel near a situation at a Resorts ***** building in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro
********, PANIC
Videos posted on social media showed people fleeing as several loud bangs went off.
“Even the security personnel panicked,” casino guest Jeff Santos told a radio station. “Definitely us patrons we did not expect that, everyone ran away.”
Jeri Ann Santiago, who works in the ********* room at the San Juan de Dios hospital, said patients were suffering from ***** inhalation and some had fractures. None had ******* wounds, she said.
The Philippines has been on heightened alert amid a ****** in the south of the country, where troops have been battling Islamist ****** since May 23.
Duterte declared martial law on the southern island of Mindanao last week and has warned it could become a haven for Islamic State supporters fleeing Iraq and Syria.
Security was tightened around the presidential palace on Friday, with armored personal carriers stationed on approach roads and river ferries barred from passing close by.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said four people from Taiwan were among those ****** and South Korea said one of its citizens had ****, apparently after a heart ******.
Shares in resort owner Travellers International Hotel Group Inc, a joint venture of the Philippines’ Alliance Global Group Inc and Genting Hong Kong Ltd, fell 7 percent.
(Additional reporting by Peter Blaza, Clare Baldwin, Karen Lema, Manuel Mogato, Enrico Dela Cruz and Martin Petty in MANILA and Ju-min Park in SEOUL; Writing by Alex Richardson and Lincoln Feast; Editing by Robert Birsel and Nick Macfie)