Biodun.BBC

Thursday, June 1, 2017

Botched robbery of Philippines casino: At least 34 dead

Fri Jun 2, 2017 | 04:H38 GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Xian Wan and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters, Manila

At least 34 people are dead after a gunman burst into a Manila casino, firing shots and setting gaming tables alight, Philippine media reported on Friday, in what officials said was a botched robbery attempt.

Police said the unidentified gunman had killed himself after firing at armed officers searching the still-smoking Resorts World Manila entertainment complex hours after the drama that began shortly after midnight (1600 GMT).

Many of the dead suffocated in the chaos as guests and staff tried to flee choking smoke at the complex, according to a report by ANC News channel, quoting Bureau of Fire Protection sources.

Resort owner Travellers International Hotel Group Inc said authorities were still seeking details.

"We have been informed of several casualties, the number and identities of whom have yet to be determined," it said in a statement. Its shares were down 7 percent.

Around dawn, the body of the suspected gunman was found in a hotel room in the complex, which is close to Ninoy Aquino International Airport and an air force base, police said.

"He burned himself inside the hotel room 510," national police chief Ronald dela Rosa told a media conference. "He lay down on the bed, covered himself in a thick blanket and apparently doused himself in gasoline."

The bodies of two of the victims had been taken to the Veronica funeral parlor, staff member Leni Domingo told us at Reuters.

Officials said at least 54 people were hurt, some seriously, as they rushed to escape what at first had been feared as a militant attack.

Dela Rosa told DZMM radio the lone gunman had not aimed his assault rifle at people and may have been trying to steal casino chips.

"Don't panic, this is not a cause for alarm. We cannot attribute this to terrorism," dela Rosa said.

"We are looking into a robbery angle because he did not hurt any people and went straight to the casino chips storage room. He parked at the second floor and barged into the casino, shooting large TV screens and poured gasoline on a table setting it on fire," he said.

Police said the gunman was tall with a pale complexion and spoke English.

GUNSHOTS, PANIC

Videos posted earlier on social media showed people fleeing as several loud bangs were heard.

"Even the security personnel panicked. Maybe because of the heavy firearm, they can't put up a fight so they prioritized life and safety," Jeff Santos, a high roller at Resorts World Manila, told a Philippine radio station. "Definitely us patrons we did not expect that, everyone ran away."

Jeri Ann Santiago, who works in the emergency room at the San Juan de Dios hospital, said patients were suffering the effects of smoke inhalation and some had injuries such as fractures. None had gunshot wounds, she said.

Kimberly Molitas, a spokeswoman for the capital's police office, said 113 million Philippine pesos ($2.27 million) worth of casino chips stolen during the raid had been recovered.

"Please help pray for the injured and the loss of lives due to suffocation," she said in a message to reporters.

The Philippines has been on heightened alert amid a crisis in the south of the country, where troops have been battling Islamist rebels since May 23.

President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law on the southern island of Mindanao last week and has warned it could become a haven for supporters fleeing Iraq and Syria.

Dela Rosa said there had been no specific, credible terror threat in Manila so far.

Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington was closely monitoring what he described as a "terrorist" attack unfolding in Manila.

The U.S. embassy in Manila told Americans there to exercise caution and to review their personal security.

Dozens of police trucks and a handful of huge Special Action Force vans and armored personnel carriers lined side streets near the hotel, casino and shopping mall complex as the drama unfolded.

Gil Yonco, 54, stood weeping in the street at around 5 a.m. His daughter had been on the second floor inside Resorts World and called her father for help because she was being suffocated by smoke.

He tried calling back but there was no answer. "I am very worried as a parent, I need to find her," he said.

A casino worker named Julio from the third floor of the complex told DZMM radio he heard many gunshots and saw people running up the stairs from the second floor.

Ronald Romualdo, a maintenance worker at Resorts World, told the station he saw a woman fall from an upper floor while trying to escape. "Several people were injured," he said.

Global outrage after 'barbaric' Kabul truck bomb blast kills 90

01 June 2017 - 08H40 GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Sunita Kureishi and Biodun Iginla, France24, Kabul

KABUL -

President Donald Trump has condemned the "barbaric" truck-bombing in Kabul in a phone call with his Afghan counterpart, as global outrage swells over the massive blast that ripped through the diplomatic quarter, killing at least 90 and injuring hundreds.

No group has so far claimed the attack, launched from a sewage tanker packed with explosives, which tore a massive crater in the ground and blew out windows across the heavily fortified district.

Anguished residents were preparing to bury their loved ones Thursday, as authorities continued to clear the mangled wreckage of cars and debris from around the blast site.

Trump called President Ashraf Ghani to convey his condolences, saying the timing of the attack during the holy month of Ramadan underscores "the barbaric nature of the terrorists who are enemies of all civilised peoples".

"He also commended Afghan security forces for their steadfast efforts to defend the Afghan people from enemies who would seek to deny them the security and prosperity they so richly deserve," the White House said.

The attack underscores spiralling insecurity in Afghanistan where the NATO-backed military, beset by soaring casualties and desertions, is struggling to beat back insurgents.

Ghani slammed the bombing, the deadliest single attack in Kabul since the Taliban were toppled from power in a 2001 US-led invasion, as a "war crime".

The explosion damaged several embassies in the area, which houses diplomatic and government buildings and is a maze of concrete blast walls, vehicle barriers and armed security guards.

At least 11 Afghan guards working for the US embassy were among those killed and 11 American citizens working as contractors in Kabul were among the wounded, US officials said

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said the "despicable" attack had happened "in the immediate vicinity" of the German embassy and that an Afghan guard had also been killed.

France, India, Turkey, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Bulgaria also reported damage to their missions, including shattered windows, as the blast drew an avalanche of international condemnation.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his "abhorrence" at the strike which he said underlined the urgency of the fight against terrorism and violent extremism.

The lights at the Eiffel Tower were switched off on Wednesday night to honour the scores of victims. The monument's lights had already been turned off on Tuesday after suicide blasts in Baghdad killed at least 42.

- 'Now they are lost' -

The sound of the bomb, which went off near Kabul's busy Zanbaq Square, reverberated across the Afghan capital, with residents comparing it to an earthquake. Most victims appear to be civilians.

"They were going to their work like any other day and now they are lost," a young Afghan man said of his missing uncle and cousins, sobbing quietly outside Kabul's Emergency hospital.

"I have searched in three hospitals and haven't found them."

Afghanistan's intelligence agency blamed the Taliban-allied Haqqani Network for the attack.

The Taliban -- currently in the midst of their annual "spring offensive" -- denied they were involved, while strongly condemning the blast. The insurgent group rarely claims responsibility for attacks that kill large numbers of civilians.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for several recent bombings in the Afghan capital, including a powerful blast targeting a NATO convoy that killed eight people earlier this month.

Amnesty International said the bombing shows that the conflict in Afghanistan is "dangerously widening in a way that should alarm the international community".

Wednesday's blast was the latest in a string of attacks in Kabul. The province surrounding the capital had the highest number of casualties in the country in the first three months of 2017 due to multiple attacks in the city, with civilians bearing the brunt of the violence.

Afghan troops are backed by US and NATO forces, and the White House is considering sending thousands more soldiers to break the deadlock in the battle against the Taliban.

US troops in Afghanistan number about 8,400 now, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies. They mainly serve in an advisory capacity -- a far cry from the US presence of more than 100,000 six years ago.

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Islamic State fighters seal off Mosul mosque preparing for last stand

Thur June 1, 2017 | 07H:37 GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Leila Mohamed and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters, Baghdad

Islamic State militants have closed the streets around Mosul's Grand al-Nuri Mosque, residents said, apparently in preparation for a final showdown in the battle over their last major stronghold in Iraq.

Dozens of fighters were seen by residents taking up positions in the past 48 hours around the medieval mosque, the site where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamist caliphate in July 2014.

Islamic State's black flag has been flying from the mosque since the militants captured Mosul and seized swathes of Iraq and Syria in the summer of 2014.

U.S.-backed Iraqi government forces retook eastern Mosul in January and began a new push on Saturday to capture the group's remaining enclave in western Mosul, comprising of the Old City center where the mosque is located, and three adjacent districts alongside the western bank of the River Tigris.

The fall of the city would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the self-styled caliphate. Meanwhile in Syria, Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-air strikes are besieging Islamic State forces in the city of Raqqa, the militants' de facto capital in that country.

SYMBOLIC FOCUS

Up to 200,000 people still live in harrowing conditions behind Islamic State lines in Mosul, running low on food, water and medicine, and with difficult access to hospitals, the United Nations said on Sunday.

The Grand al-Nuri Mosque has become a symbolic focus of the campaign, with Iraqi commanders privately saying they hope to capture it during Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month which started over the weekend in Iraq.

"Daesh's fighters know that the mosque is the most important target and they are preparing for a major battle there," said Hisham al-Hashemi, who advises several Middle East government including Iraq's on Islamic State affairs.

But a battle in or near the mosque would put the building and its famed leaning minaret at risk, experts have said.

The minaret, several feet off the perpendicular and standing on humid soil, is particularly vulnerable as it has not been renovated since 1970. Its tilt gave the landmark its popular name - al-Hadba, or the hunchback.

The Mosul offensive, now in its eighth month, has taken much more time than expected as Islamic State is fighting in the middle of civilians and using them as human shields.

Over the past few days, the militants ordered dozens of families living in the Zanjili district to move into the Old City to prevent them from escaping toward the Iraqi forces trying to advance from the northern side, a resident said.

Government forces have been dropping leaflets over the districts telling families to flee but the intensity of the fighting has prevented people from escaping.

The militants been countering the offensive with suicide car and motorbike bombs, snipers, booby-traps and mortar fire.

About 700,000 people, about a third of the pre-war city's population, have already fled, seeking refuge either with friends and relatives or in camps.