JEDDAH: 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.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Philippine government insisted it was not terror-related.
The victims 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 by setting himself on fire 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 officials said the assailant was not carrying out a terrorist attack as he did not shoot anyone. They 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,” Dela Rosa told reporters.
Baker Atyani, a veteran journalist who has covered militant groups in the Philippines for two decades, said this was undoubtedly “a Daesh attack,” adding that it had issued an official statement claiming responsibility.
“They even named the attacker as Abul Kheir Al-Arkhebieli,” he told Arab News on Friday. “His aim was to inflict maximum damage and take as many lives as he could.”
The fact that he was able to kill 37 people indicates that he succeeded in his goal, said Atyani, adding that he would not classify the attack as an isolated incident.
“This was a well-planned, well-executed operation in the heart of the Philippine capital,” he said.
“If you see the CCTV footage and the images from the resort, it’s very clear that this man was heavily armed and well-equipped. He wasn’t some angry man with a gun who just barged into the hotel. This was a well-planned attack that was meant to cause maximum damage to human lives, and it did.”
This means Daesh has the wherewithal and a huge network of foot soldiers to move fast in Philippine cities and carry out such deadly attacks, Atyani said. “Before they were only confined to the south. No more.”
Local police chief Tomas Apolinario told AFP that 37 people died from inhaling smoke from a fire that spread quickly because of flammable carpet on the gaming room floors. 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 in the complex, which also includes a hotel and shops, said Dela Rosa.
He added that 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,” Dela Rosa said.
Daesh’s Aamaq news agency carried a brief message in Arabic on Telegram, which said: “Daesh fighters carried out the attack in Manila in the Philippines on Thursday.”
In a later statement posted on Telegram from one of Daesh’s regular and authenticated accounts, the group provided the gunman’s nom de guerre and boasted of killing and injuring nearly 100 Christians during the rampage.
But Philippine officials were adamant it was not terror-related, and was the work of an individual.
“This particular situation in Manila is not related in any way to a terrorist attack,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella told reporters.
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 gasoline onto a gambling table and set it alight.
Atyani said Daesh militants — who have their back to the wall in the southern city of Marawi, where Philippine security forces have been pounding their positions and hideouts for the last 11 days — have tried to open another front to ease the pressure on them in Marawi.
“In Marawi, the security forces have almost succeeded in flushing out the militants, and they now seem to have dispersed into the jungles,” he said.
The Marawi operation was launched to capture Isnilon Totoni Hapilon, who has been named by the Daesh leadership in Raqqa, Syria, as its emir in the Philippines. “He seems to have escaped from Marawi and is believed to be in Mindanao,” said Atyani.
“The attack in Manila can be seen, from the perspective of Daesh, as revenge for the Marawi operation.”
On why the Philippine government is refusing to acknowledge the presence of Daesh in the country, Atyani said there is an element of denial.
“Even during the early days of the operation in Marawi, they said there was no Daesh in the Philippines,” he said. “They have to admit now that Daesh is there in their midst.”
The other reason for Daesh to carry out this attack in Manila was to frighten tourists away and hurt the Philippine economy, he added.
“If the government officially accepts the presence of Daesh, then tourists will think twice before coming to the Philippines,” he said. “An attack in the heart of Manila on a resort is bad news for the tourism industry.”
— With input from AFP
Deadly Manila resort blaze no doubt a 'Daesh attack’, expert tells Arab News
Deadly Manila resort blaze no doubt a 'Daesh attack’, expert tells Arab News
First flight with Israelis evacuated from Amsterdam lands in Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV: The first flight carrying Israelis evacuated from Amsterdam after violent clashes following a football match there landed on Friday at Ben Gurion International Airport, the Israel Airports Authority said.
“The plane that arrived in Tel Aviv now has passengers evacuated from Amsterdam,” Liza Dvir, spokeswoman for the airport authority told AFP.
India’s Modi rejects calls to restore Kashmir’s partial autonomy
- Modi revoked partial autonomy in 2019 and split the state into the two federally administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh
- Jammu and Kashmir held its first local election in a decade this year, newly-elected lawmakers passed resolution this week seeking restoration
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly backed his government’s contentious 2019 decision to revoke the partial autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, days after the territory’s newly elected lawmakers sought its restoration.
“Only the constitution of Babasaheb Ambedkar will operate in Kashmir... No power in the world can restore Article 370 (partial autonomy) in Kashmir,” Modi said, referring to one of the founding fathers of the Indian constitution.
Modi was speaking at a state election rally in the western state of Maharashtra, where Ambedkar was from.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government revoked partial autonomy in 2019 and split the state into the two federally administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh — a move that was opposed by many political groups in the Himalayan region.
Jammu and Kashmir held its first local election in a decade in September and October and the newly-elected lawmakers passed a resolution this week seeking the restoration.
Jammu and Kashmir’s ruling National Conference party had promised in its election manifesto that it would restore the partial autonomy, although the power to do so lies with Modi’s federal government.
Jammu and Kashmir’s new lawmakers can legislate on local issues like other Indian states, except matters regarding public order and policing. They will also need the approval of the federally-appointed administrator on all policy decisions that have financial implications.
Under the system of partial autonomy, Kashmir had its own constitution and the freedom to make laws on all issues except foreign affairs, defense and communications.
The troubled region, where separatist militants have fought security forces since 1989, is India’s only Muslim-majority territory.
It has been at the center of a territorial dispute with Pakistan since the neighbors gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947.
Kashmir is claimed in full but ruled in part by both India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over the region.
Kyiv says Russia has returned bodies of 563 soldiers
- The exchange of prisoners and bodies of killed military personnel remains one of the few areas of cooperation
- The announcement represents one of the largest repatriations of killed Ukrainian servicemen
KYIV: Ukraine said on Friday it had received the bodies of 563 soldiers from Russian authorities, mainly troops that had died in combat in the eastern Donetsk region.
The exchange of prisoners and bodies of killed military personnel remains one of the few areas of cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv since Russia invaded in 2022.
“The bodies of 563 fallen Ukrainian defenders were returned to Ukraine,” the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement on social media.
The announcement represents one of the largest repatriations of killed Ukrainian servicemen since the beginning of the war.
The statement said that 320 of the remains were returned from the Donetsk region and that 89 of the soldiers had been killed near Bakhmut, a town captured by Russia in May last year after a costly battle.
Another 154 of the bodies were returned from morgues inside Russia, the statement added.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine publicly disclose how many military personnel have been killed fighting.
Russia sentences soldiers who massacred Ukraine family to life in prison
- The court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced the two men to life in prison for mass murder “motivated by political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred“
- The incident triggered uproar in Ukraine
MOSCOW: A Russian court sentenced two soldiers to life in prison for the massacre of a family of nine people in their home in occupied Ukraine, state media reported on Friday.
Russian prosecutors said in October 2023, the two Russian soldiers, Anton Sopov and Stanislav Rau, entered the home of the Kapkanets family in the city of Volnovakha with guns equipped with silencers.
They then shot all nine family members who lived there, including two children aged five and nine.
The southern district military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced the two men to life in prison for mass murder “motivated by political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred,” the state-run TASS news agency reported, citing an unnamed law enforcement source.
The incident triggered uproar in Ukraine.
Kyiv alleged at the time that the Russian soldiers had murdered the family in their sleep after they refused to move out of their home to allow Russian soldiers to live there.
“The occupiers killed the Kapkanets family, who were celebrating a birthday and refused to give up their home,” Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said a day after the murder.
Russian forces seized the city of Volnovakha in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region at the start of their full-scale military offensive.
It was virtually destroyed by Russian artillery strikes.
Russian soldiers have been accused of multiple instances of killing civilians in Ukrainian towns and cities they have occupied since February 2022.
Moscow has always denied targeting civilians and tried to claim reports of atrocities at places like Bucha were fake, despite widespread evidence from multiple independent sources.
The arrest and sentencing in this case is a rare example of Russia admitting to a crime committed by its troops in Ukraine.
State media did not say what prosecutors determined the reason for the attack was.
TASS suggested it could have been a “domestic dispute,” while both the independent Radio Free Europe and Kommersant business outlets said it could have been linked to a dispute over obtaining vodka.
The trial was held in secret.
The independent Radio Free Europe outlet reported the Rau, 28, and Sopov, 21 were mercenaries for the Wagner paramilitary before joining Russia’s official army.
They had both received state awards a few months before the mass murder, it said.
Saudi influencer shines spotlight on resilience, hard work of Filipino expats
- Riyadh-based health worker Ahmed Alruwaili has 1.7 million followers on Facebook
- He shot to social media fame thanking Filipino frontliners during COVID-19 pandemic
MANILA: Dressed in a white thobe, a traditional headdress, and a blue jersey of the Philippine national basketball team, Saudi influencer Ahmed Alruwaili appears in a viral video, distributing small gifts and snacks to Filipinos in Riyadh as a way to thank them for their hard work.
In another clip, he visits an elementary school for Filipino children, sharing jokes and laughter with them. In yet another, he hands out portable electric fans to Filipino expats braving the scorching heat of the Saudi capital.
These videos are just a few among the hundreds of Alruwaili posts, in which he uses his social media platform to celebrate over 1 million Filipino expats living and working in Saudi Arabia. Through his content, he highlights their resilience, traditions, and sense of humor, reaching 1.7 million Facebook followers.
It all began about six years ago when he joined a group of Filipino baristas playing street basketball in the mornings. Initially reluctant, they soon welcomed him into their circle. After each game, they would share their breakfasts with him before heading off to work.
“They used to bring pancit in the morning, at 5 a.m. Pancit and pan de sal, Alicafe,” Alruwaili recalled, referring to traditional Filipino noodles, bread rolls, and the popular instant coffee.
“I know it’s really weird, but that’s how it all started. It’s all with basketball. And till today, I still play with the same people. I did not change, I’m still visiting them. I’m the one now to bring them the food.”
Over time, he developed a basic understanding of Filipino culture and Tagalog — a language he had slowly become familiar with also through his work in a healthcare facility, where he had met many Filipino colleagues.
During basketball games, his friends would often record videos of him, which quickly garnered considerable attention and views. Encouraged by this, Alruwaili began sharing content regularly. While his posts were initially comedic, everything changed with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as he witnessed the dedication and sacrifice of Filipino nurses working on the frontlines of the healthcare crisis.
Feeling the need to express recognition and gratitude, Alruwaili shifted the focus of his content. This became a turning point — one that would shape the direction of his online presence and influence in the years to come.
“It was purely comedy until the COVID time,” he said. “Working in a healthcare facility, I see the hard-working OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) here in Saudi. So, I thought I’d use it to give appreciation. Once I did that … it became different. All the things happened after that. This is how we started.”
In a video posted in March 2020, Alruwaili is seen buying flowers and food and distributing them to Filipino nurses at various locations in Riyadh.
“The reason why I made this is just to remind you about all the hard work that the nurses are doing all over the world, especially the OFW nurses against this coronavirus,” he says in the clip.
“We all need to pray and appreciate all the nurses for their hard work. The nurses now are the true heroes.”
The video received 3.5 million views. Another video, in which Alruwaili brings pillows, blankets, and food to pandemic-stranded Filipino workers waiting for their flights, has now reached 6 million views — and continues to grow.
Known as The Saudipinoy after the name of his Facebook account — with the word “Pinoy” meaning “Filipino” in Tagalog — the Saudi influencer has already visited the Philippines eight times since he started vlogging.
One of his most popular clips — which has 8 million views — was filmed on Siargao Island. It shows him conducting a social experiment, pretending that his motorcycle has run out of gas. The video captures how Filipinos would immediately offer help to a stranger in need.
Despite his social media fame, Alruwaili’s life remains centered around his full-time job in healthcare. Working as a medical professional, he devotes just one day a week to creating content.
“One day, I am just asleep … then the other day I will do the vlog, then I will prepare to go back to work. So, my life is really busy, I am really working hard to keep up with the vlog,” he said.
“(But) I am extremely happy with the impact (of what) I am doing.”
His social media work is appreciated not only by Filipinos, many of whom recognize him on the streets of Riyadh and approach him to thank him and hug him, but also by fellow Saudis.
“I want Saudis to notice the hard work of OFWs, and I want OFWs to know that Saudi people are nice,” he said.
“I am proud to be Saudi and representing Saudis. And, thank God, even big people here in Saudi … they said: ‘Keep going, you are representing the Saudi people and we are proud of you.’”
