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27th August, 2010
HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s security chief said Thursday that autopsies would be performed on all eight victims killed in a Manila bus hijacking, possibly clearing the way for an official inquest.
Ambrose Lee, the city’s secretary for security, said Hong Kong’s coroner had ordered post-mortem examinations for the slain tourists amid questions about whether they died at the hands of the hostage taker, or police during their bungled rescue operation on Monday.
“The coroner ordered that an autopsy be done – we’ll have our own autopsies,” Lee told lawmakers in Hong Kong’s parliament called the Legislative Council.
“The coroner will then decide whether a death inquiry will be held.”
The bodies of five of the victims had already undergone autopsies in the Philippine capital before their bodies were returned Wednesday evening, which showed they died from gunshots mostly in the head and neck.
Families of the three other victims insisted their autopsies be performed in Hong Kong, local media reported.
Philippine officials have said further investigations were required to determine if the victims had been shot by the gunman, or by police.
The tragedy played out on live television and showed ill-prepared Philippine police commandos fail in their attempts to storm the bus before the tourists, and the gunman, died in a hail of bullets.
Philippine authorities have suspended four police officers and one is on leave as an investigation proceeds into key mistakes made in the protracted standoff.
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