MANILA (AFP) - FEMALE victims of a political massacre in the Philippines that left 57 people dead were shot in their genitals and may have been raped, Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera said on Friday.

'Even the private parts of the women were shot at. It was horrible. It was not done to just one. It was done practically to all the women,' Ms Devanadera told the GMA television network.

'The zippers of their pants were all undone. We have yet to determine whether they were raped. But it is certain that something bad was done to them.'

Police previously said at least 22 of the victims were women.