Filipinos abroad warned to stay vigilant after New York subway attack

MANILA, Philippines — The DFA on Tuesday advised Filipinos outside the country to heighten their vigilance after a failed terror attack in New York.

A would-be suicide bomber slipped unnoticed into at the Port Authority Terminal in Manhattan, leaving four persons injured.

The suspect, inspired by Islamic State extremists, strapped a crude pipe bomb into the subway system and set off the device at rush hour on Monday.

“It is important for our kababayans wherever they are abroad to know how to respond in the event of a terror incident," DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a statement.

READ: 'One of my nightmares': Pipe bomb attack hits in NYC subway

The latest attack comes after the Islamic State warned that it would undertake more attacks around the world.

The attack also comes more than five weeks after a follower of the Islamic State mowed down pedestrians near the World Trade Center memorial in New Manhattan, killing eights persons and leaving 11 others injured.

Law enforcement officials, however, said that the suspect who attacked the New York subway acted alone in retaliation for US military aggression.

Cayetano advised Filipinos traveling abroad for work, business or pleasure to obtain contact details of Philippine embassies and consulates in countries they would be going in case of emergency.

The Philippine Consulate General in New York issued an advisory for the 56,100 Filipinos in the city to avoid the area after the incident and observe precautions while an investigation is ongoing.

Filipinos from New Jersey and nearby areas use the Port Authority Terminal to take their connecting subway rides to their offices in Manhattan, Consul General Maria Teresa Dizon de Vega said. — Patricia Lourdes Viray with reports from Associated Press