Man on school rampage in Philippines kills three

Knife-wielding man kills teacher, schoolgirl and old man in classroom rampage before being stoned by onlookers.

An ex-convict burst into a school in the southern Philippines and stabbed three people to death before being killed himself on Friday, a police official said.

The knife-wielding man killed a teacher, a 12-year-old schoolgirl and an elderly man and wounded at least six other people in a school just outside the southern city of Zamboanga, said Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo.

"The suspect reportedly went inside the classroom, then stabbed the teacher in the chest, then stabbed two other teachers and two students," de Ocampo, the city police director, told reporters.

He then tried to enter other classrooms, stabbing more people along the way, de Ocampo said.

The female teacher and one of her students were killed, along with the girl's grandfather who was visiting at the time. Two other teachers and four more students were also wounded in the attack, de Ocampo added.

As the terrified students took refuge in a bathroom, local residents rushed to the scene and battered the attacker to death with large stones, de Ocampo said.

"We rushed to the school after receiving the report. We still don't know what triggered his attack on the children," said district official Pinpin Pareja.

The attacker had been working as a caretaker for fighting cocks but she had no idea why he would attack the school, she said.

The classroom was still in disarray with blood on the floor and blackboard, desks overturned and books scattered, reporters on the scene said.

The body of the dead knifeman lay nearby, surrounded by bloody rocks.

Records showed that the man had previously been jailed for 27 years for rape and was released in 2008, de Ocampo said.