MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police killed at least 26 more drug and crime suspects in overnight gunbattles in the capital, bringing to 58 the death toll in a renewed bloody crackdown in the last three days that received praises from the president. “I want you … dead.”

Twenty-six drug and crime suspects were killed and more than 100 others arrested across the congested city in overnight police assaults, said Manila police Chief Superintendent Joel Napoleon Coronel. Reuters looked at police reports covering the first eight months of the drug war, which showed that in Quezon City Police District and neighboring Manila Police District, 301 victims were sent to hospital after police anti-drug operations. The killings across Manila followed 32 deaths in near-simultaneous police operations on Monday night through to Tuesday in Bulacan province, marking the deadliest period of a controversial crackdown by President Rodrigo Duterte that has killed thousands of Filipinos. "If we could kill another 32 everyday, then maybe we can reduce what ails this country," Duterte said. He said 93 of those held were wanted for other crimes, as well as drugs offences. Police have killed more than 3,500 people in drug raids since Duterte came to office in the middle of last year, according to government data. Human rights groups say the anti-drugs crackdown, the signature policy of the populist Duterte, has been disastrous and has almost entirely targeted the poor, with most of those killed or arrested drug users and small-time dealers, with narcotics kingpins largely untouched.
At least 25 people are killed and 48 are arrested by the Philippine National Police Manila Police District in consecutive anti-drug operations in Manila within 24 hours.