(Eagle News) — Malacanang has expressed its condolences to the families of the eight victims of Tuesday’s truck attack on a New York bike path, as the Philippine government advised Filipinos in New York City to remain calm yet vigilant.
The eight dead in the IS-inspired attack in New York included a Belgian woman and five Argentinian friends celebrating the 30th anniversary of their graduation from a prestigious polytechnical secondary school in the city of Rosario. Two Americans also died in the rampage
Twelve people were injured and as of Wednesday morning nine were still hospitalized including four in serious condition.
There are no Filipinos reported injured so far in the latest IS-inspired attack in the United States.
“We express our deep sympathies to the families and friends of the innocent victims killed in a truck attack on a New York bike path,” said Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar.
He said the Philippine Consulate General in New York was “closely monitoring the situation” and has “advised the members of the Filipino community in the area to remain calm yet vigilant.”
The assailant, identified as Sayfullo Saipov, 29 and living in America since 2010, acting in the name of the Islamic State group drove a pickup truck along a New York City bike path Tuesday in the city’s worst terror attacks since September 11, 2001.
He did this shortly after 3 pm, on Oct. 31 on a bike path in Lower Manhattan in the hip TriBeCa neighborhood where there were many children and their parents.
He plowed on for about a mile, mowing down pedestrians and cyclists before hitting a school bus and coming to a halt.
Saipov then got out of the truck brandishing a pellet gun and a paint ball gun. Police shot him in the abdomen and he was taken to a hospital.
(With Agence France Presse)
