Police say Manila casino blaze which killed 37 ‘not a terrorist attack’

MANILA // A masked gunman set fire to a gaming room at a casino in the Philippine capital on Friday, igniting a toxic blaze that killed 37 people, authorities said, but they insisted it was not a terrorist attack.

The victims suffocated inside one of the main gambling venues of Resorts World Manila, while dozens of other people were injured in a panicked crush to escape, police said.

The gunman committed suicide inside a hotel room by burning himself about five hours after storming the casino with an M4 assault rifle and a bottle of petrol that he used to start the fire, police chief Ronald Dela Rosa said.

Mr Dela Rosa and other police chiefs insisted the assailant was not carrying out a terrorist attack, pointing out he did not shoot anyone, and said it appeared to be a robbery attempt by a “deranged” man.

“This is not an act of terror. There is no element of violence, threat or intimidation that leads to terrorism,” Mr Dela Rosa told reporters.

However, 37 people died from inhaling smoke from a fire that spread quickly because of flammable carpet on the gaming room floors, local police chief Tomas Apolinario said.

Four of the victims were from Taiwan, according to the Taiwanese government.

The gunman initially disappeared into the chaos of smoke and people running, leading to a five-hour manhunt through the complex, which includes a hotel and shops, according to Mr Dela Rosa.

He said the assailant, who appeared to be a foreigner because he spoke English and looked Caucasian, was found before dawn in a hotel room after he committed suicide.

“He lay down on the bed, covered himself with a thick blanket, apparently poured petrol on the blanket and burned himself,” Mr Dela Rosa said.

Before the gunman had been killed and police had confirmed any motive, there was an unconfirmed claim of responsibility from ISIL. US president Donald Trump also branded it a “terrorist attack”.

But Filipino officials were adamant it was not related to terrorism.

This situation in Manila is not related in any way to a terrorist attack,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella told reporters.

Mr Dela Rosa said the man, acting alone, walked into one of the gaming rooms and fired the rifle at a large television screen, then poured petrol onto a gambling table and set it alight.

He said the man then fired again at a stock room containing gambling chips and filled a backpack with chips worth 113 million pesos ($2.3m).

The man left the room and went upstairs to the hotel section, but left the backpack, according to Mr Dela Rosa.

The police chief said 18 of 54 injured people were in hospital. He said the others suffered minor injuries.

People inside the casino recounted their ordeal when the shooting broke out.

“I was about to return to the second floor from my break when I saw people running. Some hotel guests said someone yelled ‘ISIS’,” Maricel Navaro, an employee of Resorts World, told DZMM radio.

“When we smelled smoke, we decided to go for the exit in the car park. That’s where we got out. Before we exited, we heard two gunshots and there was thick smoke on the ground floor,” Navaro said.

Outside the complex, relatives of people trapped waited on Friday to hear news of their loved ones.

“Our daughter called us past midnight saying she was in the VIP section of the casino and there was smoke and they were suffocating,” Gil Yongco, 42, said.

“We are very worried about her. We haven’t heard from her.”

Their daughter, Hazel, died, authorities said later.

Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte imposed martial law last week across the southern region of Mindanao to crush what he said was a rising threat from ISIL there.

He made the move shortly after extremists went on a rampage through the southern city of Marawi, which is about 800 kilometres south of Manila.

Security forces are still battling the extremists in Marawi, and the clashes there have left at least 175 people dead.

Mr Duterte said last week he may need to declare martial law across the rest of the country if the terrorism threat spread.

* Agence France-Presse