Manila - A family of six, including four children, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen who burned their house in a southern Philippine city in a bid to hide the crime, a regional police chief said Tuesday. Chief Superintendent Danilo Empredrad said the attack occurred before dawn Sunday while the family was asleep inside the house on the outskirts of Gingoog City in Agusan del Norte province, 795 kilometres south of Manila.

Empredad said the assailants barged into the house and shot the victims before burning the house.

A few days before the killing, the victims had evacuated their house amid ongoing clashes between government troops and communist rebels in adjacent villages, investigators said. (dpa)