At least 54 people were hurt, some seriously, as they rushed to escape, officials said.Ī Filipino man is frisked by a police officer outside the Resort World Manila. Taiwan’s foreign ministry said four Taiwan nationals were among those killed and a South Korean foreign ministry official said one South Korean had died, apparently after a heart attack.

“The room was carpeted and the tables highly combustible.” “What caused their deaths is the thick smoke,” he told reporters. Those who died were in the casino’s main gaming area, said Oscar Albayalde, chief of the capital’s police office. The Philippines has been on heightened alert amid a crisis in the south of the country, where troops have been battling Islamist rebels since 23 May.Īn Islamic State-linked Filipino operative claimed Isis “soldiers” were responsible for Friday’s attack, but police maintained that the gunman was acting alone and that no connection had been established with the fighting in the south.Īrmed police were deployed at about 2am on Friday (1800 GMT Thursday) after gunfire and loud bangs were heard inside the casino building. The bag of high-value gambling chips was found in a toilet.ĭela Rosa described the gunman as white, about 6ft tall and English-speaking.ĬCTV images of the suspect. It was not clear how he smuggled the gasoline and rifle into the crowded casino. He stuffed a backpack with gambling chips, fired an assault rifle at TV screens and set gambling tables on fire by pouring gasoline on to them from a two-litre bottle, Dela Rosa said. The national police chief, Ronald dela Rosa, said security footage showed the gunman ignoring a guard who tried to question him at the complex’s entrance, then going straight to the casino. He fled with stolen casino chips worth at least 113m Philippine pesos (£1.7m, $2.3m), then forced his way into a room in an adjoining hotel and killed himself by dousing himself in gasoline and setting himself alight, police said. The unidentified lone gunman stormed the casino at Resorts World Manila, a complex of hotels, restaurants, stores and a sprawling multi-floor gambling area, in the early hours of Friday morning.

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