Philippine police seek 161 suspects in election massacre in southern province

Philippine police: 161 suspects in massacre sought

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine police on Wednesday identified 161 suspects in the massacre of 57 people last month, including government militiamen led by members of a powerful clan facing murder and rebellion charges.

Witnesses have identified Andal Ampatuan Jr., the scion of the clan, leading the group of militiamen who stopped his rival’s convoy that included 30 journalists and their staff on Nov. 23 in the southern province of Maguindanao, national police chief Jesus Verzosa told reporters.

He said witnesses told investigators Ampatuan himself shot some of the victims in Ampatuan township — named after his family that has ruled the impoverished province unopposed for years. The bodies troops found hours later bore bullet wounds in the mouth and chest fired from close range, Verzosa said.

Police also said the bodies of some of the 21 women were mutilated, including their sexual organs. Authorities earlier said at least five women may have been raped.

Police said the militiamen, most of them still at large, were identified by witnesses Tuesday. Their names will be submitted to prosecutors to be included in the charge sheet and court warrants of arrest.

The mug shots of about 100 newly identified suspects were displayed at the national police headquarters in Manila. Of 161 suspects identified by authorities, 100 are militiamen and the remainder are members of the Ampatuan clan, according to police, army and local officials. About 30 have been arrested.

Ampatuan turned himself in three days after the Nov. 23 killings and denied involvement. His father, the family patriarch, and other relatives also have been arrested.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last week declared martial law in Maguindanao, allowing government forces to arrest other members of the clan without waiting for court warrants and order some 2,400 loyalists to surrender their weapons.

Air force planes and helicopters dropped thousands of leaflets Tuesday urging the Ampatuan followers to give up or face an assault.

“We have to resolve this case peacefully,” Verzosa said. “We are urging them to surrender and then the normal processes of the law and prosecution should be held and this is what we are trying to tell everybody, that we must be governed by laws and the rule of laws must be respected.”