MANILA: Philippine police have killed three drug suspects in a shootout, officials said Sunday, the latest such deaths after president-elect Rodrigo Duterte vowed to crack down on crime by any means necessary.
Police said they were fired on when they went to the home of a suspected drug dealer on the tiny central island of Banacon before dawn Saturday. They returned fire and the suspect and three associates were injured.
The suspected trafficker Rowen Secretaria and two unidentified men were pronounced dead after being taken to hospital, while a fourth was treated for gunshot wounds, local police officer Roel Lagora told AFP.
“The armed men shot at the raiding team several times, prompting the latter to defend themselves and return fire,” Lagora told AFP by phone, reading an official account of the incident.
Police have killed 12 other drug suspects across the country in the past week, while unidentified gunmen murdered two other people linked by police to illegal drugs.
Duterte has warned that security forces will kill tens of thousands of criminals and ignore human rights, part of a campaign pledge to eradicate the scourge of drugs that many voters rated as their top concern.
The incoming leader, who is also the sitting mayor of the southern city of Davao, has been accused of backing vigilante death squads that have murdered more than a thousand people in Davao, including more than 100 minors.
Civil rights groups have criticized Duterte over the threats, describing his proposed methods as illegal and unconstitutional.
Police said they were fired on when they went to the home of a suspected drug dealer on the tiny central island of Banacon before dawn Saturday. They returned fire and the suspect and three associates were injured.
The suspected trafficker Rowen Secretaria and two unidentified men were pronounced dead after being taken to hospital, while a fourth was treated for gunshot wounds, local police officer Roel Lagora told AFP.
“The armed men shot at the raiding team several times, prompting the latter to defend themselves and return fire,” Lagora told AFP by phone, reading an official account of the incident.
Police have killed 12 other drug suspects across the country in the past week, while unidentified gunmen murdered two other people linked by police to illegal drugs.
Duterte has warned that security forces will kill tens of thousands of criminals and ignore human rights, part of a campaign pledge to eradicate the scourge of drugs that many voters rated as their top concern.
The incoming leader, who is also the sitting mayor of the southern city of Davao, has been accused of backing vigilante death squads that have murdered more than a thousand people in Davao, including more than 100 minors.
Civil rights groups have criticized Duterte over the threats, describing his proposed methods as illegal and unconstitutional.
