This is the news coverage of the Manilla incident... Don't know much about it yet as I'm still d/ling... Attached torrent, will upload screen dumps and MU link once I've finished d/ling [HIDE] TVB Coverage - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4EFJPW8D ATV coverage - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=APA0E5QX [/HIDE]
Sorry my leeching from the torrents is slow... but here's a summary of what happened: (source = news.com.au) A HOSTAGE situation ended in tragedy last night after a disgruntled policeman stormed a tourist bus and opened fire on passengers. Police shot the gunman dead after he opened fire on tourists, killing eight. "As we know, the incident tragically ended in the deaths of eight innocent civilians," President Benigno Aquino said in a statement after meeting police officials to discuss the crisis. The toll was also confirmed by the secretary general of the Philippine National Red Cross, Gwendolyn Pang, who said the bodies were at four different hospitals around Manila. She said seven survivors were being treated for injuries. The tourists were all from Hong Kong and the death toll was also confirmed by the Hong Kong Government. A total of 22 Hong Kong tourists and three Filipinos were aboard the bus when Rolando Mendoza, a highly decorated former senior police inspector, seized the vehicle in the heart of the Philippine capital and demanded that he be reinstated to his job. He released nine people during police negotiations, including children and two Filipinos, as the bus was parked at Rizal Park, a popular tourist destination just a few blocks from police headquarters. Negotiations with Mendoza, who was armed with an M-16 assault rifle, broke down after nightfall. Police said he was shot dead by a sniper after he used his captives as "human shields" in the final moments of the 12-hour standoff. "I shot two Chinese. I will finish them all if they do not stop," Mendoza told a local radio station as the police assault was about to get underway. "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." The Filipino bus driver jumped out of a window and escaped moments before police stormed the vehicle, with his escape and the rest of the crisis broadcast live on television. Another four hostages were seen scrambling out of the bus after the siege ended. "He used the tourists as human shields. But he panicked and retreated to the front of the bus. He was then met with a valley of gunfire," the assault team's leader, Superintendent Nelson Yabut, told reporters after the drama. "One of our snipers managed to shoot him in the head. "The bodies of four of the tourists were taken to the Manila Doctor's Hospital, where a fifth victim was in critical condition, said Faith Gaerlan, the facility's emergency medicine chief. Two other hospitals reported receiving three dead victims, according to their emergency medical staff. Mendoza, 55, was honored 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.
