Manila: At least three people were killed and eight others injured after a gunman opened fire at a school in Banga town in the southern Philippines on Friday morning.
This is the third school shooting in the country since June this year.
According to Albert Palencia, the Mayor of the town, the dead include the 16-year-old suspected gunman. However, he did not provide any details while talking to Reuters on how the suspected shooter was killed.
Four of the eight injured were in critical condition and had been taken to nearby hospitals for treatment, the mayor said. All those killed and injured were aged between 14 and 17, he said.
The motive behind the shooting remains unknown. Security personnel are investigating the incident to determine what led to the attack, as reported by India Today.
The Department of Education said it was deeply concerned over the incident, as authorities grapple with a series of violent episodes at schools in the southern Philippines.
The three such incidents since June is a worrying development in a country where such attacks were previously rare.
Last month, a student in Zamboanga live-streamed himself shooting and killing another student inside a classroom before taking his own life.
In June, two classmates opened fire at a public high school in Tacloban, killing at least three students and injuring around 20 others.
The Philippines has relatively strict gun ownership regulations, including background checks and psychological evaluation requirements. However, illegal firearms remain in circulation.
Friday’s shooting also comes weeks after a high-profile school shooting in neighbouring Thailand. In August, a student went on a shooting rampage at a school on the outskirts of the capital, Bangkok.