Officials found 11 more bodies Wednesday at the site of an attack on an election caravan in the south, bringing the death toll in the massacre to 57, and police said they are investigating a member of a powerful clan allied with the president’s administration.
Six of the bodies in southern Maguindanao province were discovered in a large pit buried alongside three vehicles, and five were found in a mass grave a few miles (kilometers) off the main highway.

The vehicles — a sedan and two vans — were crushed by a large backhoe that ran over and buried them, investigator Jose Garcia said. Police were trying to determine if the vehicles were part of the caravan.
The dead from Monday’s massacre included the wife and two sisters of gubernatorial candidate Ismael Mangudadatu and 18 Filipino journalists accompanying the caravan. It is the largest number of reporters killed in a single attack anywhere in the world, according to media groups.
Police identified the prime suspect as Andal Ampatuan Jr., a scion of the powerful Ampatuan clan led by the former provincial governor. The clan, which has ruled the province unopposed for eight years, helped President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her allies win the 2004 presidential and 2007 senatorial elections by delivering crucial votes.

Prime suspects in the Maguindanao massacre surrenders

The military also said it will disarm two government-armed civilian militia companies, or about 200 men, in the province. The militia are meant to act as an auxiliary force to the military and police in fighting rebels and criminals but often serve as a private security force.
The killings provoked outrage beyond the Philippines, with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and media and human rights watchdogs urging Arroyo to punish the attackers.
Mangudadatu, after receiving death threats, had sent his wife and relatives to submit his candidacy. He wanted to challenge Andal Ampatuan Jr., who serves as a town mayor and whose family has ruled the province with an iron fist backed up by private armies and legions of bodyguards.

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