A 16-year-old gunman shot two students dead and wounded eight others at a high school in the southern Philippines on Friday before killing himself.
The attack took place at Banga National High School in Banga, in the southern province of South Cotabato, Mindanao. The two students killed were both 14 years old, according to the local mayor.
Mayor Albert Palencia said four of the eight injured were in critical condition.
The Philippines Red Cross said it was alerted to the incident at 14:00 local time (06:00 GMT) and dispatched an ambulance with four paramedics to the scene.
Police are at the site and investigating the shooting, according to local media reports.
Before the attack, the gunman had told friends during a lunchtime conversation to go home "because after lunch, [he would] be executing [his] plan," Palencia said.
"His friends laughed because the shooter was a known joker," the mayor added. "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" following the shooting, disaster management authorities said in a statement.
The Philippines Department of Education said it was "deeply concerned" by the incident and that its "immediate priority is the safety and well-being of our learners, teachers and school personnel."
The department said it was coordinating with authorities to verify the incident and provide necessary support. It also urged "everyone to remain calm and refrain from sharing unverified information as authorities continue their investigation."
South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo called on adult gun owners to "be responsible in storing firearms" and to ensure that minors do not have access to them.
"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," Tamayo said.
Friday's attack is the third deadly school shooting in the Philippines since June this year.
In June, three students were killed and more were injured after peers opened fire at a high school in central Philippines. Investigators believed the shooting had been motivated by a "grudge" over bullying.
In August, a student at a Catholic junior high school in the southern Philippines shot dead a fellow student before taking his own life. In that incident, the suspect had first fired at a teacher but missed, then moved to another classroom and shot a student who later died.
Gun crime is not uncommon in the Philippines, which has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the region. School shootings have historically been rare, but Friday's incident marks the third deadly campus shooting in four months.
