Philippines Massacre Death Toll Rises to 46

The Reuters News Agency has filed a story which reports that the death toll in yesterday's Philippines' Massacre has risen to 46, with at least 12 journalists among the dead. The journalists were traveling with politicians and their representatives who were heading for the provincial capitol to file election papers. The killings occurred in an autonomous region of the southern Philippines, an area known for violent feuds. The Province of Maguindinao has a Muslim government, though the massacre is attributed to long-standing political conflicts between rival families.

International news agencies are carrying different accounts of the story, but one source reports that four persons survived the massacre. A more accurate account of the massacres may be revealed when these witnesses, sequestered now for their own protection, are allowed to speak with the media. The Philippines' government has dispatched soldiers and investigators to the area, and President Gloria Arroyo has declared a state of emergency intended to control the violence. Many of the victims were women, one of them reported to be pregnant; victims of the violence were shot and hacked to death with machetes and then buried in shallow graves. One Philippines online reporter says he interviewed people who told him the murders were planned in advance and that a large ditch had been dug near the rural farming village where the massacre occurred.

The victims had been traveling in a six-vehicle convoy near the village of Saniag. Also discovered abandoned near the site was a backhoe used to dig one of the two mass graves where many of the victims were found. Although the province was noted for previous election violence, the women and the reporters were traveling without a security guard because they believed that political enemies would not attack women or reporters. According to "Ground Report," some of the female victims were found with their clothing unzipped, leading to speculation that they had been raped. Authorities are investigating to determine whether this was indeed the case. World press associations are protesting the deaths of the journalists. Violence against journalists is not as rare as some believe. A notorious example is the murder and beheading in Pakistan of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, allegedly at the hands of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, for whom the U.S. Attorney General recently ordered a New York City civilian trial. A previous massacre of television reporters occurred in Baghdad, Iraq in 2006 when eleven employees of the Al-Shaabiya television station were killed.

Sources: http://www.groundreport.com/World/Philippines-Massacre-Reports-Journalists-singled-o/2912214

http://www.canada.com/news/Screams+Philippine+mass+murder+unearthed/2259921/story.html