13 killed in one day of Philippine drug busts

manila — Philippine police killed 13 suspected drug dealers and arrested more than 100 people in dozens of anti-narcotics operations on Wednesday in a province north of the capital, its police chief said.

More than 4,000 Filipinos have been killed by police during President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial 20-month-old war on drugs, and thousands more by unidentified armed men. Most killings have been in rundown areas of Metro Manila and the nearby provinces of Bulacan and Cavite.

Human rights groups and Duterte’s political opponents say executions of drug users and small-time peddlers are widespread, but police insist those killed were all dealers who put up violent resistance.

Police in Bulacan ran about 60 drugs “buy-bust”, or sting, operations in nine towns, the police

Filipinos have been killed by police during the 20-month war on drugs

chief said on Thursday.

“These operations are part of our stepped-up campaign against drugs and all other forms of criminality in the province,” Bulacan police chief Romeo Caramat said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, 13 of the suspects were killed when our officers fired in self-defence shortly after the suspects who were armed with concealed guns sensed they were being entrapped and started firing.” —