MANILA - THE Philippines on Wednesday suspended four police officers who led an assault to end a hostage crisis in which eight Hong Kong tourists were killed, the national police spokesman said.
'Pending the results of the investigation, they have been administratively relieved from their positions,' Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz told reporters.
Philippine police conceded they had made blunders ending a bus hijacking amid outrage over a bloody assault that was played out on live television.
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. MORE
'Obvious shortcomings' in rescue: Top Manila cop
"We saw some obvious shortcomings in terms of capability and tactics used, or the procedure employed, and we are now going to investigate this," said Manila police commander Leocadio Santiago.
Mr Dennis Wong Sing Wing, an associate professor of applied social studies at City University in Hong Kong, said the police assigned to end the hostage-taking appeared to lack modern weapons and communication equipment and, as a result, were hesitant to attack the gunman, who was armed with an M16 assault rifle.
He also criticised the negotiating tactics employed by police, saying they failed to calm the hostage-taker and to hear him out.
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