At least three people, including a 16-year-old suspected gunman, have been killed and several injured in a shooting at a school in the Philippines. The attack was reported on Friday in Banga town in South Cotabato, in the southern Philippines. It is the country’s third deadly school shooting incident since June.

A disaster agency worker reported that two of those killed were students, adding that several others were being treated in hospital. Four of the eight injured were in critical condition, and all of the victims were students aged 14 to 17.

The suspected gunman reportedly shot himself following the attack, South Cotabato provincial governor Reynaldo Tamayo said. Town mayor Albert Palencia later reported that the attacker had died, according to the Reuters news agency. However, it was not immediately clear how many attackers were involved. A teacher was heard in a video circulating across social media saying there were two attackers.

“For now, we are trying to let our fellow citizens know that the situation is stable and the case is contained,” Tamayo said. “We never thought this would happen.” According to Mayor Palencia, the suspect supposedly sat beside his friends and told them to go home ‘because after lunch, I will be executing my plan’. His friends laughed because the shooter was a known joker. “After lunch, he started shooting students. He hit 10 students before killing himself,” Palencia added.

The attack is the third school shooting to take place in the country in recent months. In August, a student livestreamed himself killing another student and then taking his own life in a classroom in Zamboanga, also in the south of the archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Three students were killed and 20 others injured in an attack in June at a public high school in Tacloban, in central Philippines, after two students opened fire.

Nationwide shooter drills were recently conducted in an effort to strengthen school security. But Tamayo urged parents to keep guns out of the reach of minors, saying security personnel are not enough. “We need to be responsible in storing firearms,” the mayor said. “We cannot expect a handful of security personnel to monitor thousands of students.” The Philippines has also tightened its gun ownership regulations in response to the tragedies that have spread throughout the country. Background checks and psychological evaluations have become a requirement for buying a firearm. However, many illegal firearms remain in circulation.

Source: www.aljazeera.com