DFA alerts Filipinos in New York after failed Times Square attack

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano (AP photo)

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has alerted more than 56,100 Filipinos in New York City to take caution following a failed Islamic State (IS) inspired Times Square terror attack.

DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday called on all Filipinos abroad to be vigilant in the wake of another terror attack in the US.

“We encourage our kababayans (countrymen) abroad to heighten their vigilance,” Cayetano said in response to what American authorities said was a terror-related incident.

READ: ISIS-inspired immigrant ‘drawn by Xmas posters’ in New York attack

Akayed Ullah, 27, a Bangladeshi immigrant, accidentally set off a pipe bomb strapped to his body inside the Port Authority Terminal in Manhattan, one of New York’s busiest commuter hubs, according to American law enforcement officials.

The attempted suicide bomber was arrested at gun-point, according to the New York Police Department. Ullah and four bystanders sustained injuries from the explosion.

No Filipino was injured in the incident, according to the Philippine Consulate General in New York.

Cayetano noted the attack came more than a month after an IS follower plowed a truck through a Manhattan bicycle path, killing eight persons and injuring eleven others in what was seen as the worst terror attack in New York since 9/11.

The DFA chief added that the IS group had warned that it would launch more terror attacks around the world.

“It is important for our kababayans wherever they are abroad to know how to respond in the event of a terror incident,” he said. /jpv