Death toll in Philippines massacre rises to 57

Source Guardian (UK)

The death toll from a massacre in the southern Philippines rose to 57 today after police found another 11 bodies in the country's most horrific incident of election violence. Not all the bodies have been identified, but 22 of the victims are believed to be journalists, making Monday's attack the deadliest ever on the media anywhere in the world. Thirty-three of the victims were men and 24 were women, police said. As the full extent of the carnage emerges, domestic and international pressure is growing on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to punish those responsible for what the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, called a "heinous crime". In her first comments on the killings in Maguindanao province, Arroyo, who has declared a state of emergency in the two southern provinces, promised justice for the victims and declared a national day of mourning.