David,
I can't speak for UK law enforcement nor military, but US law enforcement officers and military are held to strict guidelines regarding excessive use of force. British, FBI and US Military all attend the same hostage rescue courses - often together. I would assume they are also all guided by the same principles. However, as I indicated above, had the soldiers realized that the captives were already dead, such a ridiculously long firefight would have terminated with a few grenades. It was clear that they had to at least recover the bodies and without any means of determining the state of the hostages, they continued the firefight.
Just my $0.02 !
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