At least three dead in Philippines school shooting

In short:

At least three students have been killed and eight others injured in a shooting at a high school located in the country's south.

The incident occurred at Banga National High School, in the province of South Cotabato.

School classes were immediately suspended across the municipality.

At least three students are dead and eight others injured following a shooting at a high school in the southern Philippines, authorities have confirmed.

The announcement came after the country's education department revealed the incident occurred at Banga National High School in Banga in the province of South Cotabato.

Provincial Governor Reynaldo Tamayo told Reuters that the shooter was among the three people killed.

Banga Mayor Albert Palencia later confirmed the shooter was 16 years old and that four of the eight people injured were in a critical condition. The victims were aged between 14 and 17.

"The suspect supposedly sat beside his friends and told them to go home, 'Because after lunch, I will be executing my plan,'" Mr Palencia told Reuters.

"His friends laughed because the shooter was a known joker."

In a video posted to Facebook and verified by AFP, a man can be seen carrying what appears to be an injured child from the school, rushing him into the sidecar of a waiting motorbike.

In another, a teacher speaking in a local dialect could be heard saying there were two shooters and a student insisting they were outsiders.

The local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office said school classes had been suspended across the Banga municipality.

The incident follows two shootings since June at schools in the south of the country.

School shootings were previously rare in the Philippines, but the incidents led to nationwide live shooter drills being conducted this month.

Last month a student live-streamed himself shooting and killing another student in a classroom in Zamboanga before taking ‌his own life.

In June, at least three students were killed and about 20 others injured an attack at a public high school in Tacloban when two classmates opened fire on campus.

The latest incident came just days after three other people were killed and 15 injured in a separate shooting in Cotabato during the first parliamentary election held in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The Philippines has relatively strict gun ownership regulations, including background checks and psychological evaluation requirements, although illegal firearms remain in circulation.

Mr Tamayo urged parents to ensure guns were kept out of reach of minors.

"We need to be responsible in storing firearms. Gun owners, in particular, must make sure that minors do not have access to them," he told Reuters.

"We cannot expect a handful of security personnel to monitor thousands of students. We need to work together because otherwise this will be very difficult for us to address."