Manila: A university president was killed by unknown gunmen in a city in southern Philippines on Saturday, the police said.

Dr Ricardo Enriquez Roturas, president of the University of Science and Technology in the Southern Philippines, and also president of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges, was shot several times by two unidentified assailants in front of his house in an exclusive subdivision in Cagayan de Oro City, at 1am Saturday, said the Philippine National Police in a report.

He sustained eight bullet wounds, the report said, adding the gunmen remain unknown.

He had come home from a party when ambushed by the gunmen, his wife said in a radio interview.

PNP has created a special task force to investigate the case, the report said.