Tragedy highlights flaws
* President Begnino Aquino told a pre-dawn press conference that the tragedy highlighted many flaws in the ability of Philippine security forces to handle hostage situations. * One of the problems he emphasised was the way the crisis played out through the media, with the gunman being allowed to speak on radio and watch events live on the bus's television, giving him insights into police actions.
*But Mr Aquino nevertheless insisted waiting more than 10 hours before storming the bus was the right course of action, because police believed until that point they could convince the gunman to stand down.
*However relatives of the victims as well as the Hong Kong government and media expressed anger over the bloody end to the stand off.
*The Chinese embassy in Manila on Tuesday urged the Philippines to take concrete measures to protect Chinese citizens while Hong Kong newspapers bemoaned missed opportunities to end the siege much earlier. -- AFP
Members of the SWAT teams prepare to assault the tourist bus seized by dismissed police officer Rolando Mendoza. Philippine police conceded that blunders had been made in ending the hijack situation. -- PHOTO: AP
MANILA - PHILIPPINE police conceded on Tuesday they made blunders in ending a bus hijacking as outrage grew over the bloody assault played out on live television that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead.
Commandos fired dozens of bullets into the bus and smashed its windows with sledgehammers as they tried to storm it, but were then forced to wait outside helplessly for over an hour as the hijacker used his captives as human shields.
The ordeal in Manila's tourist district on Monday finally ended when the police fired tear gas into the bus and a sniper shot the gunman in the head, but by that time eight of the tourists on board had been killed.
Amid a building storm of criticism from Hong Kong's government and people around the world who watched the shoot-out live on television, Manila police commander Leocadio Santiago admitted mistakes had been made.
'We saw some obvious shortcomings in terms of capability and tactics used, or the procedure employed and we are now going to investigate this,' Commander Santiago said on local television, promising to probe all aspects of the 12-hour ordeal, which began when a disgruntled sacked policeman armed with an M-16 assault rifle hijacked a bus carrying 25 people, mostly Hong Kong tourists. -- AFP
