Philippines Hostage Shootings: 8 Dead
By Chandrajit, Gaea News NetworkTuesday, August 24, 2010
PHILIPPINES (GaeaTimes.com) — 8 Hostages were killed in Philippines after a Bus was hijacked in the wee hours of morning. 2 elderly British tourists managed to escape, after some Filipino police commandos stormed the bus 10 hours later.
After 9 hours of Negotiations, when the heat of the situation arose, Rolando Mendoza, a Police Officer started shooting at the hostages and police snipers. After that, a group of confused Police Teams stormed into the bus. The Gunman was snipped by a police. Tear gases were hauled into the vehicle, but 8 people were already dead by then.
The blunders made by the police put the whole operation in the danger zone. Some police officials admitted that they lacked the skills needed to handle such operations successfully.
Leocadio Santiago, the Manila police commander said:
We saw some obvious shortcomings in terms of capability and tactics used, or the procedure employed and we are now going to investigate this.
Chinese President and Foreign Minister have called for a thorough Investigation into the situation. A Team of Chinese Officials have already been sent to deal with the aftermath of the accident. The British people who have escaped have not been named. They were taken to British Embassy and are safe now.
