An elite Philippine police team stormed a Manila courthouse today killing a gunman and freeing his four hostages to end a nearly 24-hour hostage drama that unfolded on national television.
Five to six gunshots and then a loud blast were heard as members of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team raced into the courtroom in the capital's southern suburb of Tagig, emerging in a couple of minutes with two of the captives.
"The crisis is over," Reynaldo Varilla, police chief of the capital of 12 million people, told reporters. "All the hostages are safe. The only fatality was the hostage-taker."
Mr Varilla did not say anything about the gunman's wife who was also inside the courtroom. But journalists at the scene said they saw several women being led into an ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital.
The police assault was televised live on national television as local officials negotiated for hours, but failed to get the safe release of the hostages.
Freddie Tinga, the Tagig mayor, told reporters the hostage-taker was an ex-marine and actor who took two court workers, a lawyer and a woman who sued his girlfriend over a land dispute hostage yesterday afternoon.
Mr Tinga said they were prepared to give the hostage-taker a car as long as he freed his captive unharmed. He could not confirm reports that a 3 million pesos ($61,8500) ransom was demanded.
Television footage showed the hostage-taker about to jump out of the two-storey courthouse but quickly return as shots rang out. A loud explosion was then heard, a signal for the SWAT team to move in.
Television later showed his body lying in a corridor of the courthouse.