Police say at least 17 people have been killed in a fierce clash between officers and a group of suspected robbers in a Manila suburb.

Leopoldo Bataoil, Metropolitan Manila Police chief, said that officers were trailing the suspects in two cars late on Friday when the men sensed the surveillance and fired on the police.

Speaking on Saturday, Bataoil said the assailants went berserk, firing at everyone in sight near a residential subdivision in suburban Paranaque city.

In addition to the 10 robbers and four bystanders, one policeman and two security guards died in the firefight, he said.

Another policeman was wounded, Bataoil said.

He said investigators believe the assailants belonged to a gang whose members have posed as police officers.

He said two of the slain assalants were found wearing police-style bulletproof vests.

The gang has been blamed for the killing of bank teller and two guards of an armoured truck that was picking up money from a bank on the University of the Philippines campus last month.

Deadly gun battle

Police commandos stopped the men on a highway in the Paranaque area, triggering a gun battle in which 10 of the criminals died, Glen Tecson, a senior superintendent of police, said.

"While they were fleeing, they fired assault rifles and a grenade launcher," he said.

Four of the men, who belong to a known robbery gang, escaped while an eight-year-old girl was among the bystanders killed.

Police could not confirm reports that the armed men intentionally fired on passers-by.

Lilia de Lima, a human rights commissioner, said her agency would look into the incident to make sure the police acted properly to protect the civilians.