Armed men take Philippine school children hostage
Pastor Dale Morgan
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Wednesday March 28, 10:48 AM
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Armed men take Philippine school children hostage*
Up to three men armed with grenades and handguns commandeered a bus and
took 32 children and two teachers hostage in the Philippine capital
Wednesday, police said.
A crack police team surrounded the bus which was stopped outside Manila
city hall. The children were apparently on a field trip.
"The initial report that we have is that 32 students and two teachers
are inside the bus and being held hostage by two men armed with grenades
and firearms," a Manila police officer told DZBB radio.
Police later said they believed there were three hostage takers, having
miscounted in the confusion.
The armed men announced on a message written on cardboard in the bus
windscreen that they were holding the students and teachers hostage.
The suspects said they had machine pistols and grenades and demanded
free housing and education for an unspecified group of children.
Terrified children, who looked to be either pre-schoolers or elementary
school pupils, were seen peeking and waving from behind the window curtains.
One of the hostage-takers was seen holding threateningly on to a child
while a woman, apparently one of the teachers, tried to pacify the children.
"We have 32 children hostages and two teachers. We are armed with two
grenades, an Uzi (sub-machinegun), and .45 calibre pistols," they wrote
in a notice they displayed on the bus windscreen.