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Reuters

A 16-year-old student shot dead at least two fellow students and then killed himself at a school in the southern Philippines on Friday, provincial officials said.
Eight others were injured, with four in critical condition. All the victims – Grade 9 students at Banga National High School – were aged 14 to 17, said Albert Palencia, mayor of Banga town in South Cotabato, where the shooting took place.
The incident follows two fatal gun incidents since June at schools in the Philippines, where school shootings were previously rare.
“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,” Palencia said.
“After lunch, he started shooting students. He hit ‌10 students before killing himself,” Palencia added.
He said in a radio interview that the suspect, the son of Department of Education officials, had taken the gun from a home safe.
South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo said the suspect’s best friend told local officials that he was a member of a “true crime community”.
“Our police force is investigating this and what this internet organisation entails,” Tamayo said.
He said the alleged shooter had used a “very well-maintained” 9mm handgun and acted alone.
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 said.
“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.”


In a video posted to social media, a man can be seen carrying what appears to be a wounded child from the school, rushing him into the sidecar of a waiting motorbike.
The Department of Education expressed deep concern about the incident and offered to provide psychological first aid and mental health support to those affected.
“Our immediate priority is the safety and well-being of our learners, teachers and school personnel,” it said in a statement, calling on the public to remain calm and refrain from sharing unverified information.
Munira Mustaffa, executive director of Chasseur Group and a senior fellow at Verve Research, said the latest shooting appeared to have similarities with the attacks that occurred in August and June.
“They all seem to be a part of some online community in one way or another. They have friends, but they’re online and nobody knows who they’re talking to or who’s goading them,” Munira said.
Based on screenshots from the Cotabato suspect’s purported social media accounts, she said he displayed indications of premeditated behaviour, including “peacocking” or showing off references to violence before the attacks. A student in Zamboanga also expressed these tendencies.

She added that personal grievances matter more than ideology in assessing school attackers’ risk profiles.
Last month, a student live-streamed himself shooting and killing ⁠another student in ⁠a classroom in Zamboanga in the country’s south before taking his own life.
In June, at least three students ‌were killed and about 20 others injured in an attack at a public high school in Tacloban, where two classmates opened ‌fire on ‌campus.
The Philippines has relatively strict gun ownership regulations, including background checks and psychological evaluation requirements, although ‌illegal firearms remain in circulation.
Friday’s shooting also follows a high-profile incident in Thailand in August, ⁠where a student went on a shooting rampage at a school on the outskirts of the ⁠capital, Bangkok.
Additional reporting by Sam Beltran, Agence France-Presse


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The attack at Banga National ‌High School ‌in South ‌Cotabato also left eight others injured


The attack at Banga National ‌High School ‌in South ‌Cotabato also left eight others injured.


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3 students killed in Philippine school shooting, including gunman

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The attack at Banga National ‌High School ‌in South ‌Cotabato also left eight others injured

The attack at Banga National ‌High School ‌in South ‌Cotabato also left eight others injured