Three killed, one hurt in bus robbery in Philippines

Manila - Three people were killed Friday, while a five-year-old girl was wounded in a pre-dawn robbery inside a passenger bus in the Philippines, police said.

The four robbers pretended to be passengers before declaring a hold-up in San Miguel town in Bulacan province, 60 kilometres north of Manila, after one of the passengers alighted.

The suspects divested the passengers of their valuables and fired indiscriminately inside the bus, resulting in the death of three men and the wounding of the girl.

The robbers fled after the robbery which lasted only for a few minutes, according to bus driver Armel Sanchez.

Sanchez told a local radio station that when the robbers declared a hold-up, he immediately jumped out of the bus and ran as fast as he could.

'I just ran out of the bus,' he said. 'When I was crossing the road, a jeepney (passenger mini-bus) almost hit me. I heard shots from inside the bus.'

Last week, robbers also killed a bus driver and a passenger in a daring highway robbery in Manila. Three of the suspects were later killed in a shootout with police.