Department of Foreign Affairs building. 蜜桃工作室 FILE PHOTO
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has renewed its call to Filipinos working in Baghdad, Iraq, to come home soon following two hotel bombings that killed at least 15 people and injured two dozen others on Friday.
Elmer Cato, charge d鈥檃ffaires of the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad, described the twin bombing attacks as a 鈥渃lose call鈥� for Filipinos working there even if no Filipino was reported to be among the casualties.
鈥淭he Filipinos are not safe here,鈥� Cato said in an online message, urging the nationals to go home following the new wave of violence in the Iraqi capital city.
He said at least 22 Filipinos working at one of the two luxury hotels struck by car bombings had narrowly survived the explosion.
鈥淭he suicide bomber hit the VIP lobby of one of the hotels instead of the main lobby. Had he struck the main lobby, there would be a lot of Filipino casualties,鈥� Cato said, noting that the front desk of the hotel was manned by Filipinos.
One Filipino hotel employee was supposed to go to the main lobby but had just gone back to the front desk to get something when the explosion happened, Cato shared.
The DFA in June last year raised the alert level status in Iraq, except Kurdistan, to 4, which prompts the Philippine government to undertake a mandatory evacuation of Filipino nationals at the government鈥檚 expense.
According to DFA records, there are still 1,500 Filipinos in Iraq, most of them in Kurdistan.
International news organizations reported that the Islamic State group had claimed responsibility for Friday鈥檚 car bombings in Baghdad.