MANILA, Philippines?Where did some ?intriguing? shots come from? Did the hostage-taker use his M-16 or a pistol in his deadly rampage? Did sniper fire really kill Rolando Mendoza?

On what was supposed to be the last day of its fact-finding mission, the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) found even more questions surrounding the Aug. 23 bus hostage tragedy in which eight Hong Kong tourists and gunman Mendoza ended up dead.

The IIRC held an almost two-hour ocular inspection of the tourist bus, kept under tight security and 24-hour video monitoring at the logistics warehouse of the Philippine National Police?s Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig on Tuesday afternoon. The visit provided the panel a picture of what they had so far heard from witnesses in marathon proceedings since late last week.

?There were points that were clarified but there were points that became unclear,? said Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, IIRC chair, Tuesday afternoon.

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo also revealed that the trajectory of bullets coming from the outside, as examined by the National Bureau of Investigation, indicated that Mendoza may have been fatally shot by a member of the assault team, not one of the snipers as widely reported.

?It's somebody from this side, the other side of the bus (pointing to the right side of the bus, opposite the sniper's line of sight). That's the most possible position where Mendoza could have been shot,? Robredo told reporters.

?It's very likely that what happened was the sniper fired, then another shot came from the right side, Mendoza fell down and probably the sniper thought the fatal shot came from him,? said Robredo, among officials who went inside the bus and observed the map of bullets inside and outside the vehicle.

But this still has to be verified with the ballistics examination, he said.

Bus driver Alberto Lubang was also invited to return to the driver seat and give visual references to his testimony, especially how much of the bus he could see from the rearview mirror.

?We verified that he can see up to the very end of the bus (from the mirror). We also verified that if he were just seated, he can't see the [bus] TV [which aired LIVE pictures of the hostage crisis] unless he moved to look,? De Lima said.

The team also wanted Lubang to re-enact how he released himself from his handcuffs but the original pair used to restrain him was not available.

Lubang was also able to re-enact Mendoza's movements at the time of the shooting up to the point where he (Lubang) escaped.

A partial ballistics examination of the NBI meanwhile revealed that none of the eight slain hostages sustained wounds from ?near fire,? indicating that they were not shot at close range. Correlating this with Lubang's re-enactment, De Lima said the panel still has yet to find out whether Mendoza used his M-16 or a pistol in the shooting.

?We want to know how feasible it was for Mendoza to be using that same gun (M-16) and then we'll correlate that with our evaluation of the other results: ballistics, the blood splatter, the amount of blood seen and examined and the others,? De Lima said.

She also pointed out ?intriguing shots? at the rear of the bus?bullet holes above the glass panel that could not have come from the SWAT assault team crouched below.

?That's very far, didn't come from below. The assault team said they never moved away from the side of the bus. But you can see from the bullet trajectory that there are several bullets that were far off. We do not know how conclusive, how accurate it is,? De Lima said.

She said the IIRC would likely set further sessions and invite experts to help the panel recreate ?at least the most substantial parts of the incident.?

The IIRC is also counting on forensics data, ballistics findings, eyewitness accounts and other relevant testimony to put together the most complete retelling of the 11-hour crisis that brought the Aquino administration and the Philippine National Police to international shame.

?We cannot yet make any conclusion, I'm sorry. We have certain theories, ideas, but as to specific conclusions, it will be difficult for us at this point to make a conclusion,? De Lima told reporters.

The National Bureau of Investigation team that traveled to Hong Kong Monday is expected to return on Friday, bringing home critical ballistics examination results jointly undertaken with Hong Kong authorities.

They are also expected to turn over statements from eight survivors who were aboard the bus until the last shot was fired.

?We are counter-checking the results of the autopsy and, most importantly, the results of the ballistics examination. We might get those on Friday, so everything will be difficult. It cannot be just dependent on the autopsy or the bullet trajectory examination. All of these should be taken together,? said De Lima.