Journos, politicians among 21 killed in Philippines

A group of at least 21 people, including local politicians and journalists, have been killed in the southern part of the Philippines shortly after they were abducted.

Local authorities say that the killings might be linked to a political rivalry ahead of next year's national elections, AFP reported. "We have recovered 21 bodies. Our men are continuing to scour the area to find the others," regional military chief Major General Alfredo Cayton was quoted b a local radio station. "Our army troopers have reached the area where the vehicles and those held were taken... they were shot by the armed men," he added, underlining that he could not confirm who exactly was responsible for the murders. Armed forces spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner however was quoted saying that gunmen linked to a powerful politician had seized forty people, including political rivals and 20 local journalists. he also said that the death toll was likely to rise. "We believe more bodies are buried in the ground and we are trying to recover them," he said in an interview with the ABS-CBN television network.

Among those taken were the wife of a mayor in Maguindanao province, Esmael Mangudadatu, his aides and supporters, according to Brawner. The journalists that were killed, were accompanying Mangudadatu's group to a local elections office to file his candidacy for governorship of the predominantly Muslim Maguindanao province in the May 2010 vote when they were seized by the gunmen.

The Mangudadatu clan is known to have a long-running feud with the family of Maguindanao's incumbent governor Andal Ampatuan, who police say is known to control his own private army.