A shooting took place on Friday at Banga National High School in the town of Banga, in South Cotabato province in the southern Philippines. Three students were killed and eight were injured.
Banga Mayor Albert Palencia confirmed the number of students killed and said the attacker was a ninth-grade student.
The Philippines' Department of Social Welfare and Development initially announced that six students had been killed and 17 injured following the attack. The department later revised the toll to three dead and eight injured.
Palencia said, citing police, that the attacker was part of an online group interested in violent crimes. The attacker reportedly turned the weapon on himself after opening fire on the students.
Banga's Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management announced that classes at all education levels in the town had been immediately suspended following the incident.
The Department of Education said it was deeply concerned about the attack and had coordinated with school officials, the local government and law enforcement agencies both to determine the circumstances of the incident and to support the injured and the school community. The department said the safety and well-being of students, teachers and school staff were its priority.
The department also called for unverified information not to be circulated while the investigation was ongoing. The possible motive for the attack has not yet been clarified.
The incident occurred about a month after a similar attack at Ateneo de Zamboanga University in the southern Philippines on Aug. 18, in which two students, including the attacker, were killed.
