Attack on election convoy kills 21 Filipinos

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

*Perilous Times

Attack on election convoy kills 21 Filipinos*

By JIM GOMEZ
The Associated Press
Monday, November 23, 2009 9:06 AM

MANILA, Philippines -- Dozens of gunmen hijacked a convoy carrying
journalists, and family and supporters of a candidate for provincial
governor, killing at least 21 of the travelers Monday in the southern
Philippines' worst political violence in years.

There was no claim of responsibility for the bloodshed in the
predominantly Muslim region wracked by political tensions between rival
clans.

The convoy of vans carrying about 40 people was hijacked in Maguindanao
province, about 560 miles (900 kilometers) south of Manila, and army
troops later found the bullet-riddled bodies of 13 women and eight men,
regional military commander Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton said.

It was unclear if anyone survived the attack. An army and police search
was under way for the other hostages.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said at least 10
local reporters were part of the convoy. Their organizations failed to
reach them, leading them to conclude they too were killed.

"Never in the history of journalism have the news media suffered such a
heavy loss of life in one day," Paris-based media watchdog Reporters
Without Borders said in a statement.

"The frenzied violence of thugs working for corrupt politicians has
resulted in an incomprehensible bloodshed," it said.

The politician, Ismael Mangudadatu, was not in the convoy and said his
wife called him by mobile phone shortly before she and her entourage
were abducted.

"She said ... they were stopped by 100 uniformed armed men ... then her
line got cut off," he said. He said his wife and relatives were among
the dead.

Victims' relatives blamed political rivals in national elections slated
for May 2010.

Philippine elections are particularly violent in the south because of
the presence of armed groups, including Muslim rebels fighting for
self-rule in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation, and political
warlords who maintain private armies.

The decades-long Muslim insurgency has killed about 120,000 people since
the 1970s. But a presidential adviser, Jesus Dureza, said Monday's
massacre was "unequaled in recent history."

"There must be a total stop to this senseless violence," he said,
recommending a state of emergency be imposed in the area to disarm all
gunmen. "Anything else will not work."

About 100 gunmen were involved in the hijacking, military spokesman Lt.
Col. Romeo Brawner said.

Also in the convoy were Mangudadatu's two sisters, followers and several
local journalists. They were traveling to nearby Shariff Aguak township
to file Mangudadatu's nomination papers for the position of governor of
Maguindanao province, Brawner said.

Mangudadatu, vice mayor of Buluan township, accused political rivals
belonging to a prominent clan for the massacre. Representatives of that
family did not respond to the allegations.

Maguindanao is part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which
was created as part of a 1996 peace agreement with a large Muslim rebel
group.

Army troops went on full alert in Maguindanao to prevent retaliatory
killings, Cayton said.

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Associated Press writers Hrvoje Hranjski and Teresa Cerojano contributed
to this report.