(CNN) -- Philippine authorities acknowledged for the first time Thursday that some of the tourists taken hostage in a bus standoff last month may have been shot by police in the bungled rescue operation.
Until now, Manila police had said officers did not kill any of the hostages. The driver of the bus also told investigators that the hostage-taker shot each of the passengers at close range.
But on Thursday, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima -- who is leading an official inquiry into the August 23 incident -- told reporters there was a "big possibility" that some of the passengers in the bus died in "friendly fire".
Lima said that forensic findings seemed to contradict the driver's account. The number of bullets found in the bus did not match the number from the hostage-taker's gun, she said.
"That's what makes Secretary de Lima's statement more crucial," said Eduardo Lingao of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. "Earlier, the Philippine national police chief shut the door at the possibility of friendly fire. Now she is saying, 'No, no, no, there is a big change some of them were hit'.
CNN
