MANILA - No Filipinos were hurt after a gunman killed at least 21 people in a Thailand shopping mall on Saturday afternoon, the Philippine Embassy there said Sunday.
The embassy, in a statement, urged Filipinos in Nakhon Ratchasima, a 4-hour drive from Bangkok where the besieged Terminal 21 mall is located, to heed local officials' advise to stay indoors.
"We offer our prayers and solidarity with our Thai brothers and sisters in this time of grief," the embassy said.
According to a report of ABS-CBN News correspondent Goldie Saurin, six Filipinos were evacuated from the mall at around 2 a.m., Sunday.
"Wala na po siyang hawak na hostage. Siya ay naglalakad sa loob ng mall. Lahat ni-lockdown ang rooms at dahan-dahan nailabas ang customers at staff," Saurin told radio DZMM on Sunday morning, describing earlier activities of the gunman and those trapped inside the mall.
("He doesn't have any hostage anymore. He is just walking around inside the mall. All rooms in the mall have been locked down, and customers and staff are slowly being brought out.")
First Secretary and Consul General Val Roque was on his way to the area to check the condition of the Filipinos who were rescued from the mall, according to the Philippine Embassy.
Authorities earlier identified the gunman as a junior army officer named Sergeant-Major Jakrapanth Thomma, who was killed after a nearly 24-hour ordeal.
The city - better known as Korat - is known to be frequented by Filipinos and is home to one of Thailand's largest barracks in a country where the military is enmeshed in politics and society.
Thailand has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world.
Several shootings at courthouses late last year renewed concern about gun violence in the Southeast Asian country.
--With Agence France-Presse
