The number of people massacred in Mindanao has risen to 57. Police initially thought 46 people had been murdered but 11 more bodies were discovered today.

Most of the victims, including two pregnant women, were journalists and politicians. The wife of a prominent opposition politician is among the dead. They were in a convoy on the way to nominate Esmael Mangudadatu as a candidate for provincial governor in next year's elections when they were ambushed by a group of around 100 armed men.

The attackers allegedly belong to the Ampatuan clan, a rival political clan allied to Philippine President Gloria Arroyo. The victims were shot at close range with machine guns and dumped into shallow graves. Earlier today, police named Andal Ampatuan Junior, mayor of the town of Datu Unsay, as chief suspect in the killings. His father is the three-time governor of Maguindanao province and member of the ruling Lakas Kampi CMD coalition and an extremely powerful regional politician.
 

President Arroyo condemned the killings and vowed to bring the murderers to justice, saying "this is a supreme act of inhumanity that is a blight on our nation".