Five dead in Philippine motorbike 'shooting spree': police

Two men on a motorcycle killed five people in an apparent shooting spree in a suburb of the Philippine capital on Sunday, AFP reports citing a police official.

Investigators are still trying to establish the motive behind what appeared to be random shootings, said Inspector Roldante Sarmiento, deputy chief of the neighbourhood in Quezon City, a suburb of Manila, where the killings took place.

"There were five people in four different locations. They had no connection. They were just bystanders. We have no idea why they were shot," he told AFP.

"It looks like a shooting spree," he said.

The two men on a motorcycle started their rampage before dawn in a commercial district of Quezon City, first shooting a man riding a motorcycle, then a woman waiting for a bus, Sarmiento said.

They then shot dead a man and a woman on a motorcycle and lastly killed a scavenger picking through rubbish before they fled, he added.

In the past, many hired gunmen in the Philippines have killed their victims while on motorbikes, escaping swiftly while using their helmets to hide their identities.

However witnesses told police that the killers in this incident did not appear to be looking for any particular target, Sarmiento added.