MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Philippine police killed at least 26 more drug and crime suspects in overnight gun battles 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.Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed his satisfaction with the new spike in drug killings and reassured law enforcers Thursday they will not rot in jail if they get entangled in lawsuits.“If the police and the military get into trouble in connection with the performance of duty, you can expect, I really won’t agree for you to be jailed,” Duterte said to applause from police officers.Read more:15 dead in Philippine drug raid, including city mayor targeted by President Rodrigo DutertePhilippines’ Duterte vows to continue bloody drug war, reject communist rebel talksIndonesia taking cues from the Philippines as it steps up its own drug warWhile he acknowledged it may be tough for him to bring the drug menace under control during the rest of his six-year term, Duterte said the deadly crackdown would continue without let up. He announced rewards of two million pesos ($49,000) for each drug-linked police officer who would be killed.“You policemen who are into drugs ... the bounty I’m offering for your head is two million. No questions asked. I will not ask who killed you,” Duterte told police officers in southern Ozamiz city. “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. Officials played down suspicions the slain suspects were victims of extrajudicial killings.The deaths followed the killings of 32 suspects in separate police anti-drug raids Tuesday in Bulacan province north of Manila. The police operations took place under Duterte’s notoriously bloody campaign th ...
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