Twenty-five criminals were killed, including 14 in anti-drug operations, overnight in the Philippine capital Manila in a second night of heavy bloodshed this week as President
Duterte's fierce war on drugs intensified.
Thursday's 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 Duterte's controversial crackdown that has killed thousands of Filipinos.
Joel Napoleon Coronel, director of Manila Police District, told reporters the 14 were killed in sting operations and 11 other deaths were robbers who were also involved in narcotics.
The identities of the killers of the 11 people were not known and the incidents were under investigation, police reports said.
On Wednesday, President Duterte
praised the operations, adding that he will order the shooting of
human rights advocates.
"Let's kill another 32 every day, maybe we can reduce what ails this country," local
media quoted Duterte as saying in a speech during the 19th-anniversary commemoration of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption at the presidential office.