MANILA, Philippines—Police have obtained the statements of eight militiamen who may have knowledge about Monday’s gruesome killing of 57 civilians, including journalists, in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said Friday.

Senior Supt. Ericson Velasquez, CIDG chief investigator, said the team leader and seven members of a paramilitary unit under the 601st Infantry Brigade were deployed near the site of the carnage.

Velasquez, however, said police did not arrest the militiamen as they are not being considered as suspects.

“They are now under the custody of their military unit,” he said in an interview with reporters in Camp Crame.

“They just have to explain the nature and circumstances of their presence there (as alleged) and who were heading the (paramilitary units,” Velasquez continued.

Velasquez said police crime laboratory personnel in Central Mindanao police office were already conducting ballistic tests on the rifles issued to the paramilitary units suspected of involvement in the bloody massacre.