Resorts World Casino In Philippines Attacked By TERRORISTS? It was a shock as a lone ISIS Terrorist attacker entered into a casino in the early morning of Friday, June 2, 2017, in Manila killing 37 innocent people at Resorts World. According to Tomas Apolinario, the Director of Police Superintendent in the Southern Police District, none of the victims seemed to have any gun wounds.
He said that all the dead victims might have died due to suffocation that was caused by the thick smoke emanating from the fire, which the attacker had lit when he burnt the poker tables and slot machines inside the casino.
“Most of the dead victims were actually women. Many of them were found locked up in either bathrooms or other small lounges. They possibly locked themselves inside the small rooms as they tried to look for a way to escape the attacker. Unfortunately, it is inside these rooms the victims died due to suffocation that was caused by the smoke,” Apolinario said.
Another police officer from the National Capital Region who is also the Director of Police Oscar Alibayalde added that huge smoke from the casino delayed the search. He hoped that officers would have helped a few victims, but the heavy smoke from the building could not allow anyone to see through in the early hours of Friday.
Alibayalde said that more than 20 bodies of those found seem to be clients who had come to the World Resort Casino to spend their night enjoying various sports while the rest might be employees of the casino.
Over 70 other people suffered various injuries and are receiving treatment in different hospitals in the capital Manila.
“It is a shame that innocent people were killed in large numbers of innocents to the hands of a ruthless criminal. Our people have died including the attacker,” Oscar said.
After setting gaming tables on fire, the attacker locked himself in one of the rooms and took his own life perhaps fearing that he could not walk out of the casino alive.
A caliber pistol and a machine gun were recovered from the attacker who according to Oscar, was a foreigner because, from the CCTV footage, he spoke English, he was white and huge. Police think that he could be a Caucasian.
Mindanao, the Philippines’ southern island is struggling with militant activities that are linked to the ISIS. However, police say that the World Resort Casino attack does not seem to be an insurgent attack but a lone criminal robbery.
The attacker who according to the video footage, entered through the back door entrance where there is a parking lot, confronted the guard who was unarmed. The guard did not try to do anything to the ‘heavily’ armed attacker who then quickly entered the main gaming floor and started shooting.
He then ransacked a room, which had gaming chips. He put 113 million pesos, the equivalent of $2.3 million into a backpack, but the money was recovered later by the police because the attacker killed himself.
Following the incident, all terminals in and out of Aquino International Airport, which is only a mile away, were temporarily locked down. The operation was however resumed at the airport but under heavy surveillance.
