MANILA: The Philippines was rocked on Friday by a deadly school shooting in South Cotabato province, where a student gunman killed at least two of his peers and wounded six others.

The incident took place at around 1 p.m. at the Banga National High School in the southern Philippines. All the victims were students aged 14 to 17. 

It follows a series of violent incidents that have unfolded at Philippine schools since June, including two deadly shootings, which were previously considered rare in the Southeast Asian country. 

“We dismissed the school early right after the shooting incident. We instructed the students to first go home, and then on Monday we will conduct a … debriefing,” South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. told Arab News. 

In a preliminary police report, the alleged suspect was identified as a 14-year-old student at the school. He is believed to have used a 9 mm handgun to fire 13 cartridges, while having two magazines in his possession, all of which were registered under his father, who was identified as a government employee at the regional office of the Department of Education. 

The suspect later turned the firearm on himself and was found dead at the crime scene. 

“Based on our investigation, this student belongs to a social platform on the internet. They call it ‘True Crime community.’ It’s a social platform on the internet that indoctrinates students to do this crime,” Tamayo said.

The suspect appeared to have planned the shooting since at least Aug. 18, when he sent the first text message about the idea to his friend. 

“I already saw their convo ... Aug. 18, Aug. 23, Aug. 24, every day he is planning to do this school shooting,” Tamayo said. “(He is) not a victim of bullying as we have investigated. He is a good performer in school, he belongs to a special class, it’s top one section.” 

In a statement, the Philippine Department of Education said it was “deeply concerned” by the shooting incident. 

Separately, the Philippine National Police said “the incident remains under investigation.” 

Last month, a student livestreamed himself opening fire and killing another student at a high school in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, before taking his own life. 

In June, two students, aged 15 and 14, fired at least 34 rounds at a high school in Tacloban City, killing three peers and wounding more than a dozen others.