Gunmen kidnapped and then killed 36 people in the southern Philippines on Monday. Philippine police say the bandits are also holding 40 hostages.

Militants attacked a convoy carrying a group of people going to file the nomination papers for a local politician's run for provincial governor next year.

The corpses were found in a remote village. The identities of the gunmen remain unclear, but the victims's relatives are blaming political rivals.

The province's interim governor has been elected to the post three times, and among 22 local mayors, most are his sons, grandsons, or other relatives.