Philippine commandos shoot dead Manila hostage taker

Manila, Aug 23 (ANI): The nearly day long hostage crisis in Manila ended on Monday evening with the Philippine commandos shooting dead the hostage taker.

The police personnel stormed a bus on which a sacked former police officer was holding 15 Hong Kong tourists and killed the hostage taker in a gun battle.

"At least seven hostages have been rescued from the besieged bus," Televison channels quoted police officials as saying.

It has been reported that a dismissed policeman armed with an automatic rifle seized a bus in the Philippine capital on Monday morning.

He had earlier released nine of the hostages and demanded his job back to free the rest. (ANI)