MANILA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in the 24-hour police anti-drug raids in Philippine's Bulacan province that started Monday night had reached 32, a police spokesman said on Wednesday.
Police Senior Superintendent Romeo Caramat, the Bulacan police director, said 32 alleged drug dealers had been killed in shootouts and at least 107 others had also been arrested during the series of raids that lasted till Tuesday night.
Caramat told a news conference that police conducted 66 simultaneous raids in the province and the drug suspects clashed with police resulting in the killings of 32 drug suspects.
He said the Bulacan operations had so far yielded the largest number of casualties. "We have conducted several one-time, big time operations in the past but so far this is the highest number of killed perhaps during our operations," he said.
Caramat said during the operations, the police seized several kilograms of illicit drugs of methamphetamine and marijuana, and 34 firearms.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte lauded the police for killing 32 drug suspects "in a massive raid."
"That's nice. If only we could kill 32 every day then maybe we can reduce the ... what ails this country," Duterte said in a speech at the Malacanang presidential palace, referring to the illicit drug menace facing the country.
The Duterte administration has launched a drug war to destroy the drug syndicates operating in the country.
