* At least seven Hong Kong tourists die and others are injured
* Former senior police inspector killed by colleagues to end siege
* Police earlier attempted armed rescue but forced to retreat under fire
A terrifying hostage drama involving 22 tourists on a bus in the volatile Philippines ended in a bloodbath last night when the crazed gunman holding them at gunpoint was shot dead in an operation that went horribly wrong.
Seven of the hostages were killed by either the kidnapper or by police when they stormed the bus - and questions were being asked why police commandoes had not shot the hijacker when they had a chance earlier.
They were seen talking to him - a disgruntled former senior police inspector - at the bus door before the final assault which resulted in a bloodbath.
Rescue attempt: Police surround the bus as their colleagues attempt to smash their way in to reach the gunman
Rescue attempt: Police try to storm the bus using a sledge hammer after gunshots were heard. A former police inspector with a grievance against the local force earlier took 25 people hostage at gunpoint
Rescued: An injured hostage is pulled clear of the bus by emergency service workers after the gunman was shot dead by police
Bizarre: Earlier in the day, a random man appeared to cycle past the bus, watched by the armed kidnapper inside the vehicle
Anxious: Hostages, all of them tourists from Hong Kong, peer out of the window
Demands: A list of the gunman's grudges against the Manila police department are taped to the windscreen
Released: Four hostages - a mother and three children - are escorted from the bus after being freed
Tough talking: Two police negotiators talk to the gunman, who is wearing police uniform and is believed to be former senior inspector Rolando Mendoza, as the bus sits parked next to Manila's Rizal Park
Escape: The bus driver flees the vehicle before police move in
Horrific ordeal: A terrified woman is helped from the bus after the final shoot-out
Hostage-taker: Former Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, stands at the entrance of the bus earlier in the siege
Onlookers said they believed the police had the chance of shooting him through the door at the time but had hesitated.
Police said at least four of the remaining captives on the bus were confirmed alive after they had managed to escape through the back door when the climax of the crisis was played out but early reports about the others remained sketchy.
Several bodies were seen being brought from the bus, confirming a terrifying account by the bus driver, who had managed to escape, who said that the gunman had sprayed the passengers with bullets.
There were grave fears for the lives of most on board when only those four managed to leave the vehicle after the police had stormed it.
The body of the gunman was seen slumped at the main door of the bus.
A highly-trained police SWAT team had earlier stormed the bus but had failed to break in - before a second attempt was made as bullets flew.
According to police at the centre of the drama, which was played live on tv, the gunman had sprayed the passengers with gunfire shortly before the SWAT team managed to break in.
In the confusion screams ran out from the tourists, all from Hong Kong, who had been held for 12 hours by the gunman, former senior inspector Rolando Mendoza, who was demanding reinstatement after being sacked for extortion in 2008.
Wearing his police uniform, Mendoza boarded the bus in a tourist district of Manila, telling the driver he wanted a free ride.
A tour guide on board tried to stop him but he eventually entered the bus and told the driver to lock the door.
The vehicle travelled from the historic walled city of Intramuros and came to a stop near the Jose Rizal Park alongside Manila Bay.
That is where the standoff began, with Mendoza using a mobile phone to tell his former fellow officers that he had taken the passengers hostage.
He would be holding them until he reached a promise that he would be reinstated as a police officer. Failure to meet his demands, he threatened in a notice he put up on one of the windows, would result
in a 'big deal at 3pm' - understood to mean he would start killing the hostages.
Later he set an earlier deadline of 12.30pm, but nothing happened inside the bus and police negotiators tried to talk him into surrendering.
As night fell and rain poured down, police in helmets and flak jackets crouched beside the bus - now containing 15 people after a handful were released by the hijacker - and tried to break the
windows, but failed.
'I shot two Chinese. I will finish them all if they do not stop,' Mendoza told the Radio Mindanao Network.
'I can see a lot of SWAT coming in. I know they will kill me. They should all leave because anytime I will do the same here.'
The SWAT team drew back - and prepared for another assault.
This time, hammers and axes were used to break the windows. The crackle of gunfire rang out into the night, from both outside and inside the vehicle.
According to Philippines newspapers, 55-year-old Mendoza was among five officers charged with robbery, extortion and grave threats after a Manila hotel chef filed a complaint alleging the policemen falsely accused him of using drugs to extort money.
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