Eight people were killed and around 60 others  injured when twin earthquakes struck islands in the northern Philippines early today, according to local officials.<br />''<br />''The quakes of magnitude 5.4 and 5.9 struck within hours of each other, hit the province of Batanes, a group of sparsely populated islets north of the nation's largest Luzon island. No tsunami s, however, were issued.<br />''<br />''The first tremor struck around 4:15 am (2015 GMT Friday), followed just under four hours later by the second stronger jolt.<br />''<br />''<br />