PHL condoles with Belgium after suspected terror attack, assures no Pinoys harmed


The Philippines on Tuesday evening expressed sympathies to Belgium after a suspected terror attack in Liège that saw two police officers, a bystander, and the suspect shot to death.
“We condole with the Government of Belgium and the Belgian people and stand in solidarity with them,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a statement.
The Philippine Embassy in Brussels confirmed that none of the 100 Filipinos who live in Liège were among the casualties of the shooting.
The attacker identified as Benjamin Herman was a prisoner on a two-day furlough.
The suspect began his attack midmorning by stabbing two police officers. He then grabbed one of their guns to shoot them and a man sitting inside a nearby car.
Gunshots could be heard in the social media footage featured on the BBC report of the attack.
The gunman took two female hostages in a school then died in a shootout with police.
Liège mayor Willy Demeyer said the "police were definitely the target of this attack."
Haaretz reported that terrorism is one of the angles police are pursuing in the incident that brought to mind the 2015 Paris and 2016 Brussels attacks perpetrated by a Brussels-based Islamic State cell.
Philippine Ambassador to Belgium Eduardo Jose de Vega said there are around 8,000 Filipinos in the European country
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/pinoyabroad/news/655020/phl-condoles-with-belgium-after-suspected-terror-attack-assures-no-pinoys-harmed/story/

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