Examination reveals evidence of shots fired from behind police SWAT team

Evidence suggests friendly fire played a part in the tragic ending of the 11-hour hostage siege in Manila August 23, the head of the official inquiry into the incident said Thursday.

Filipino Justice Secretary Leila de Lima made the observation based on the size of the bullet wounds in the victims, all of whom were tourists from Hong Kong.

The results of the forensics examination into the shootings were not consistent with testimony by bus driver Alberto Lubang, she said.

The driver, who escaped from the bus at the climax of the tragic standoff, related Tuesday how the crazed ex-cop 55-year-old Rolando Mendoza had become seized by rage and started firing at his victims at close range.

De Lima pointed to a report presented by the Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigations, which observed the victims' wounds would have been much larger if they had been shot at close range as Lubang had testified.

De Lima also revealed another mysterious element: some of the rounds that penetrated the bus appear to have been fired a distance farther back from where police snipers had opened fire on the bus.

"Where did the shots come from? The hostage taker, the assault teams or other teams?" she asked, adding that panel members suspect that all the shots were fired by law enforcement officers and Mendoza.

"There is a big possibility that there (was) friendly fire," De Lima told a press briefing Thursday.

Filipino police initially had said the hostages were all killed by Mendoza and that a police sniper had felled the gunman.

The probe is still awaiting independent ballistics tests being done at a lab in Hong Kong.

Mendoza, who had been sacked from the police for planting evidence with intent to extort money from his victims, hijacked the bus carrying 22 Hong Kong tourists, then demanded reinstatement to the police force.

By the time the siege ended, he murdered eight and injured seven before he was killed by police, who took more than an hour to storm the bus.

The five-day official probe that wrapped up Wednesday revealed a litany of shortfalls in the equipment and training of police, along with a dangerous command and control vacuum during the crisis, involving city and police officials.

A report will be submitted late next week to Philippines President Benigno Aquino, who told a press briefing at the presidential palace, "I am confident that the results of the investigations will be fair, impartial and thorough."

He said his country would begin training an elite force of 200 to 400 officers, modeled after the British SAS and would examine "internal processes and crisis management protocols to see how they can be improved".

Meanwhile, a local team sent to collect evidence in Manila has returned. A senior officer who met them at the airport said a report will be sent to the Coroner's office as soon as possible.

Aquino has assembled a panel to look into possible indemnities for the families.

AFP and Xinhua contributed to this report.

China Daily

(HK Edition 09/10/2010 page1)