At least eighteen journalists were among those massacred on Monday in the Philippines at the hands of armed men loyal to a local mayor and police chief. The reporters were traveling with a group of supporters of Esmael Mangudadatu, a politician seeking to run against the governor of Maguindanao province on the southern island of Mindanao. The convoy of more than 50 people was stopped at a checkpoint by about 100 armed men allied with the Ampatuan clan, who are supporters of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Local reports say 57 were murdered, including 18 journalists, although reports indicate that several other journalist remain unaccounted for. Some bodies were dumped in a mass grave, and local accounts include details of women being raped before they were beheaded.