Gunmen have kidnapped and killed at least 21 people in an attack in the southern Philippines.
It is thought the shootings were aimed at preventing a woman from filing her husband's nomination to run for provincial governor next May.
Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner said the bodies of 13 women and eight men were found in the area where about 30 people were taken hostage.
‘We believe more bodies are buried,’ Brawner said. ‘Unfortunately the killing happened before our troops got there.’
Other military officials said the dead included Genalyn Tiamzon-Mangudadatu, who was on the way to file the nomination of her husband to contest the governorship of Maguindanao province against Datu Andal Ampatuan, the head of a powerful local family.
She was accompanied by two lawyers, several members of her family and some journalists.
The southern Philippines is riven by fierce clan rivalries, including one between the Mangudadatus and the Ampatuans. Many politicians and elected officials in the region maintain well-equipped private armies.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's office promised quick action.
‘We are shocked and in total outrage,’ Gabriel Claudio, the president's political adviser, said in a statement. ‘Justice will be served and the perpetrators punished, whoever they are.’
Earlier, military officials had said about 100 armed men had stopped the Mangudadatu convoy at a police checkpoint on a highway and taken the victims to a remote mountainous area.
The election process for the May 2010 national polls began last week with the filing of candidacies for more than 17,800 national and local positions.
The actual campaign period begins in February for candidates running for president, vice president and 12 seats in the upper house of Congress.
For those seeking local positions and nearly 300 seats in the lower house of Congress, campaigning starts in late March. Polling is on 10 May.
Elections in the Philippines are usually marred by violence, especially in the south of the country, where security forces are battling communist rebels, Islamic radicals and the clan rivalries.
