At least one dead and multiple injured in Philippines school shooting

Three people have been killed and eight injured in a shooting at a high school in Banga in the province of Mindanao, southern Philippines.

Two of the victims were 14-year-old students, Banga mayor Albert Palencia told the BBC. The gunman, 16, is among the dead, he said, while four of those injured are in a critical condition.

The incident happened on Friday afternoon at Banga National High School.

The Department of Education said in a statement that it was "deeply concerned by the reported shooting incident".

This is the third deadly school shooting in the Philippines since June this year.

"Our immediate priority is the safety and well-being of our learners, teachers and school personnel," the education ministry said, adding it was coordinating with authorities to verify the incident and provide necessary support.

"We urge everyone to remain calm and refrain from sharing unverified information as authorities continue their investigation."

Palencia told the Reuters news agency that during a lunchtime conversation on Friday, the gunman had urged friends to go home "because after lunch, [he would] be executing [his] plan".

"His friends laughed because the shooter was a known joker," Palencia told the news agency.

"After lunch, he started shooting students. He hit 10 students before killing himself."

Classes have been suspended "in all levels in the entire municipality of Banga" due to the shooting, the Banga disaster management authorities said in a statement.

The Philippines Red Cross said it was alerted to the incident at 14:00 local time and had dispatched an ambulance with four paramedics to provide life-saving assistance.

Police are at the site investigating the shooting, local media reported.

Gun crime is not uncommon in the Philippines, which has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the region. Broadly speaking, school shootings are rare, but today's incident marks the third deadly campus shooting in the last four months.