Police may have shot bus victims

Some victims in a botched hostage rescue of a tourist bus in the Philippines may have been hit by police fire, the country's top law enforcement official said yesterday.

Eight tourists from Hong Kong were killed and three seriously wounded after a sacked policeman hijacked the bus on 23 August to demand his job back. He was also killed when police stormed the bus after a standoff that dragged on for hours on live TV.

Justice secretary Leila de Lima said hostages' wounds indicated that some of passengers may have been hit by "friendly fire." She did not say whether any of the shots fired by police were fatal and added that investigators will await a complete ballistics report before they reach any conclusions.

The new details emerged as Philippines president Benigno Aquino III said he has apologised enough for the attack and will focus instead on easing tensions with China and Hong Kong, where officials have criticised the handling of the crisis.

"Let me just say that this incident will not define this administration," he said in a televised news conference. He added that he will wait for a report from a fact-finding committee before any officials are disciplined.

Mr Aquino, facing his first major test barely two months after taking office, said he would now focus on preventing a repeat of the incident.