A man went on a shooting spree in a town south of Manila early Monday, strafing several houses and killing eight people and wounding six others.
Five of the dead were children aged 4-12 years who were sleeping inside their homes in Calamba town when an unidentified attacker opened fire with a M-16 rifle, said the Laguna provincial police chief, Senior Superintendent Felipe Rojas.
He said the lone suspect escaped, and police were investigating. He said a family feud may have been responsible.
"When we interviewed the wounded, they said they just woke to the sound of gunfire and that they were hit," said nurse Rey Enriquez, who was treating the casualties at a nearby hospital.
A 5-year-old and an 8-year-old were among the wounded, police said.
The killings came three days after robbers barged into a bank in the same province on Friday and shot dead 10 people in the head, triggering nationwide outrage.
National police Chief Avelino Razon said Sunday his men were looking at the possible involvement of a known robbery gang in the bank slayings, but declined to give details.
A reward of 2 million pesos ($47,600) has been raised by the bank and private contributors for the capture of the killers. Police set up checkpoints and intensified patrols around Laguna, a province that includes Cabuyao and where several multinational companies have set up factories and assembly plants.
