A Spectacular hostage military blockade in the Philippine capital involving a busload of Hong Kong tourists ended after 12 hours on Monday with several captives walking free but the fate of 11 others obscure.
The hitman, a dissatisfied ex-policeman, was killed in the final moments of the crisis in the center of capital of the Philippines Manila, which was played out alive on television screens around the world.
Four of the tourists emerged from the autobus alive, rounded by police force and emergency fomites, but there were concerns for the lives of the 11 others who didn't get off the vehicle at once afterward.
Some of the hostages were seen being pulled out of the bus motionless, but it was unclear whether they were unconscious or dead.
The body of the gunman, a highly decorated former police inspector who hijacked the bus in a desperate bid to get his job back, was seen slumped out of the main door of the vehicle.
Multiple gunshots were heard moments before heavily-armed police moved in on the bus near a park in Manila's historic tourist district just after nightfall.
The gunman, former senior police inspector Rolando Mendoza, said just ahead of the police assault that he had shot two of his captives and would kill the others if police did not move back.
"I shot two Chinese. I will finish them all if they do not stop," he told the Radio Mindanao Network about 10 hours in to the hostage drama.
"I can see a lot of SWAT (special weapons and tactics police) coming in. I know they will kill me. They should all leave because anytime I will do the same here."
Police were unable to get inside the bus for more than an hour after negotiations broke down and they decided to storm it.
They encircled the bus, smashed its windows and fired at it, but Mendoza held them off by shooting back.
The crisis eventually ended when police threw tear gas inside the bus, and fired again.
The hostage drama began when Mendoza boarded the bus in Manila's tourist district on Monday morning. He wanted to clear his name after being discharged for extortion in 2008, and called on authorities to review his case.
Philippine authorities said 22 tourists from Hong Kong were originally on the bus, including children, as well as the local driver and two other Filipinos.
Seven of the tourists, including three children and an elderly man, as well two Filipinos, were released at various times throughout the day.
The Filipino driver jumped out of a window and escaped just before police stormed the bus.
Mendoza, 55, was honoured by police chiefs in 1986 as one of the top 10 officers in the country. But he was discharged in 2008 for his alleged involvement in drug-related crimes and extortion, according to police.
"He wants to be reinstated in the service," Manila district police chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay said early in the day.
Mendoza had posted a series of written messages on the windows of the bus, one of which read: "Big mistake for big wrong decision", apparently in reference to his sacking.
Joseph Tung, executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, said the tourists on the bus were aged between four and 72.
They were on a three-day tour with Hong Thai Travel and were scheduled to return to Hong Kong late Monday.
The bus was parked in front of a grandstand at Rizal Park, a popular tourist destination just a few blocks from police headquarters.
Before the crisis ended, China's foreign ministry urged Philippine authorities to ensure the Hong Kong tourists were rescued safely.
Monday's bus hijack recalled a similar hostage-taking in 2007, when a troubled civil engineer armed with a grenade took over a bus and held 30 children but freed them after a 10-hour standoff with police.
The 2007 drama took place near Manila city hall, just off Rizal Park.
Monday's tragedy also added to a fast-growing number of attacks of foreigners in the Philippines.
Gunmen shot dead a South Korean man in a separate attack on Monday morning in another section of Manila. Police said the incidents were not related.
Last month, an American, a South African, a Briton and their Filipina partners were killed in spate of murder-robberies in Angeles City north of Manila. The alleged killer was arrested.
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