PH condemns terror attacks on France, Tunisia, Kuwait

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The Philippines on Saturday, June 27, urged the international community to “steel its resolve” in fighting terrorism as it joined the rest of the world in condemning the attacks on France, Tunisia and Kuwait which killed at least 66 people.

“The Philippines strongly condemns the terrorist attacks that were carried out in France, Tunisia, and Kuwait, and took the lives of innocent people,” the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement.

It noted that ‘extremism and terrorism have no place in a civilized society” as these “run counter to the desire of people all around the world for peace, harmony and understanding, and to global efforts to promote development and prosperity.”

“The international community should not be cowed and deterred by such cowardly acts of terrorism, and instead steel its resolve to continue to fight terrorism in all its forms,” the DFA said.

Malacañang extended its condolences to all nations who suffered casualties in the terror attacks on Friday.

“We were saddened by the news we received yesterday….We wish to extend our condolences to our friends, the nations who lost their citizens because of the attacks,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said in an interview on state-run Radyo ng Bayan.

She said that the DFA has worked overtime to determine if any Filipino nationals were hurt in the attacks at a gas factory in southeastern France and a posh Tunisian resort, and a suicide bombing in Kuwait – all on Friday.

“What we know for sure us that in Tunisia, as of the information that we have now, and especially in France, there are no reported Filipinos who were hurt,” Valte said.

She said at the time of the interview that the Philippine embassy in Kuwait was still checking whether there were any Filipinos were hurt in the attack.

“But so far, we have not received any report of any Filipino casualty involved in this unfortunate incident,” Valte said.

The Tunisian government said that a total of 38 people were killed –  mostly British nationals followed by other Europeans – when a man opened fire at tourists at the 5-star Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel in the popular Mediterranean resort of Port el Kantaoui.

The attack, the second against tourists in Tunisia this year, comes on the same day that 27 people were killed at a Shiite mosque in Kuwait and a suspected Islamist attacked a factory in France, killing one person. (READ: World leaders condemn string of ‘barbaric’ attacks)

The Islamic State group (IS, formerly known as ISIS or the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq) claimed both the bombing and the attack in Tunisia, which came at the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan and just days before the first anniversary of the group declaring its territory in Iraq and Syria a “caliphate.” – with a report from Agence France-Presse/Rappler