Update 3: Politician charged over Philippines massacre

Authorities have filed murder charges against a politician over the massacre of 57 unarmed civilians in the Philippines, state-run media reported Thursday. Andal Ampatuan Jr, who is the mayor of the town of Datu Unsayalso and the son of a Philippines provincial governor, had voluntarily turned himself in for questioning Thursday.

It was not immediately clear how many murder charges Ampatuan would face in Monday's massacre in Maguindanao province, in the southern Philippines. Five other people believed to be connected to the massacre were also being prosecuted, the state-run Philippines News Agency reported. This group includes three police officers.

Suspicion had fallen on the Ampatuan family, key allies of the Arroyo administration in the Maguindanao region of southern Mindanao province. The massacre is the worst politically motivated violence in recent Philippine history.

The man charged in the grisly killings of at least 57 people in the Philippines claimed his innocence from his jail cell, blaming instead the leader of a militant Islamic group. Andal Ampatuan Jr., mayor of Datu Unsay and son of the provincial governor of Maguindanao, was charged with seven counts of murder.