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Philippines

Philippine experts admit police may have shot hostages

A team of Filippino investigators has admitted for the first time that police may have shot some of the tourists who were taken hostage in Manila in August.

Members of the inquiry and review committee look inside the bus that was used in the August 23 hostage crisis, during an inspection at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.
Members of the inquiry and review committee look inside the bus that was used in the August 23 hostage crisis, during an inspection at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. Reuters/ Cheryl Ravelo
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Eight Hong Kong tourists were killed and seven others injured when a sacked policeman took a busload of tourists hostage in a desperate attempt to clear himself of extortion charges and get his old job back.

A Filippino assault unit and police snipers fired shots at the hostage taker and insisted afterwards that the bullets that killed the tourists were all fired from Mendoza’s weapons.

However, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Thursday insisted it was possible there was “friendly fire”, adding that some of the wounds found on the victims were fired at long range.

The bus driver reports that the hostage taker fired at the tourists from a close range which does not correspond to the forensic reports on some of the slain victims.

"Where did the shots come from, the hostage-taker, the assault team, or other teams? We doubt they all came from snipers and assault teams," said de Lima, raising the possibility that other police units deployed in the area could have fired into the bus.

De Lima, who heads the investigation, says she has ordered the guns of police units deployed in the area to be tested to see if they match up with any of the bullets that went into the vehicle.

 

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