Emergency declared after attack by gunmen

? Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo placed two southern provinces under a state of emergency today after gunmen killed at least 24 people in an attack on an election caravan.

The emergency measures, including checkpoints and random searches by authorities, will remain in place until the president is confident that law and order have been restored in the region, Arroyo spokesman Serge Remonde said.

Remonde called the killings “unconscionable.”

Troops were finding a couple of bodies every hour or so, and officials were still trying to get the exact number of family members, political supporters and journalists who were intercepted by about 100 gunmen Monday and taken to a remote mountainous area, said Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno.

Police said the convoy of about 40 people was going to register Ismael Mangudadatu, vice mayor of Buluan township, to run for provincial governor when they were stopped.