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.
The ISIS said its “fighters” carried out the attack, although Manila has repeatedly insisted the incident was not terror related.
The dead suffocated inside one of the main gambling venues of the upscale 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.
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 bizarre 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 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 running people, leading to a five-hour manhunt through the complex, which also includes a hotel and shops, according to Dela Rosa.
He said the assailant, who appeared to be a foreigner because he spoke English and looked caucasian, was found just before dawn in a hotel room having committed suicide.
“He lay down on the bed, covered himself with a thick blanket, apparently poured petrol on the blanket and burned himself,” Mr Rosa said.
Before the gunman had been killed and police had given any motive, there was an unconfirmed claim of responsibility from the ISIS. US President Donald Trump also branded it a “terrorist attack”.
Later Friday, the ISIS’ self-styled Amaq news agency carried a brief message in Arabic on Telegram, which said, “Islamic State fighters carried out the attack in Manila in the Philippines yesterday”. It gave no further details.
People inside the casino recounted a terrifying 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.
