AMPATUAN, Maguindanao?Five of the 16 assault rifles that soldiers dug up at the back of the town hall here late Monday afternoon belonged to militiamen, the Philippine Army disclosed Tuesday.

Lt. Col. Edgardo de Leon, 73rd Infantry Battalion commander, said a document recovered from the town?s old treasury office showed that three M16 rifles and one M14 armalite were purchased by the local government.

The other M16 rifle, he said, came from the armory of the Philippine National Police.

De Leon said the firearms were issued to Brods Daulog, Mahdi Kamsa, Mastura Limba, Gapor Limba and Rakman Sugadol.

?As shown by this document, these men were members of the Civilian Volunteer Organization in Ampatuan,? De Leon told reporters.

De Leon said he already sought the help of village officials to locate the militiamen.

Citing a master list, De Leon said that the firearms were issued by the local police chief, which he did not identify, and a certain Mohhamad Sangki, the alleged coordinator of the CVOs.

?Right now, we have invited them to the municipal hall to explain why their weapons were among the 16 that were buried behind the town hall,? De Leon said, referring to the five identified militiamen.

The 16 firearms were discovered by authorities behind the Ampatuan Town hall, some six kilometers from the crime scene where at least 57 person ? mostly female relatives and supporters of local gubernatorial candidate and members of the media ? were massacred last November 23.

De Leon said that authorities suspect that these newly discovered firearms were among those used by suspects in killings two weeks ago adding that they are also looking at the possibility that the perpetrators of the crime decided to bury the weapons to of disposing off of the evidence.

?Out of all recovered firearms, these were among those nearest to the crime scene. So we cannot discount the possibility that these were used in shooting we sent them immediately for ballistic examination,? De Leon said.

Joint operatives of the Philippine National Police and the military have conducted a series of raids and excavations of firearms since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared martial law in Maguindanao Saturday.