GUNMAN AND TWO STUDENTS DIE IN PHILIPPINES SCHOOL SHOOTING

A shooting at Banga National Secondary school in the town of Banga, South Cotabato, in the southern Philippines, left the teenage gunman and two students dead on Friday, according to local officials and police. South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo said the two students killed were a boy and a girl, both aged 14. The Philippine National Police said in a statement that the shooting "remains under investigation." Officers secured the school campus and coordinated with school officials and medical responders, police said. One report put the overall death toll at six, differing from the three fatalities confirmed by the governor.

Tamayo said at least ten wounded people were being treated at two hospitals, though one other account put the number of injured at eight. He said a further person was hospitalised after hyperventilating following the shooting. Accounts of the gunman's age differ: one report described him only as a teenager, while another put his age at 16. Banga National Secondary school sits in South Cotabato province, on the southern island of Mindanao.

Tamayo said the gunman's best friend had told officials that the teenager belonged to a "true crime community," and that authorities were investigating whether this had any connection to the shooting. The Philippine National Police said the case remains open as officers continue work at the scene. No motive for the shooting has been confirmed by police or the provincial government. Reports differed on the overall casualty figures and the gunman's age, and these discrepancies had not been resolved as of Friday. Authorities said inquiries into the shooting, including the claims about the "true crime community" link, were continuing.