Duterte says he kept ‘death squad’ as mayor to kill criminals

Rodrigo Duterte struck a defiant tone during the inquiry (AP)

Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has told a Senate inquiry that he had maintained a “death squad” of criminals to kill other criminals when he was the mayor of a southern Philippine city.

Mr Duterte, however, denied authorising police to gun down thousands of suspects in a bloody crackdown on illegal drugs he had ordered as president and which is the subject of an investigation by the International Criminal Court as a possible crime against humanity.