RIYADH: The United States is showing an interest in investigating the assassination attempt on prominent Saudi scholar Ayed Al-Qarni in the Philippines. The Americans would want to help verify the involvement of Daesh in the attack, according to Philip Goldberg, the US ambassador to the Philippines.

Goldberg was reported as saying by the Manila Times on Friday that no evidence has surfaced to link the shooting with Daesh, the international terror network.

“I don’t think we have seen any direct link and that’s why we said … to investigate what happened in the assassination attempt is very important. Who are these people, what are their connections, or do they have anything to do with ISIS?” the ambassador said, emphasizing the need for information on whether the victim was on any Daesh hit list.

The ambassador admitted though that there were indeed people who tried to align themselves, at least historically, with Daesh, expressing his worries over the “troubling” information that some clerics based in Mindanao, including Jamil Yahya, claim to be leading more than 100 people who have pledged allegiance to Daesh in Marawi City.

Al-Qarni, a prominent Saudi religious scholar, was shot and wounded in the arm on Tuesday in the Philippine city of Zamboanga while he was leaving after delivering a lecture to over 10,000 in the audience at the city’s university.