DHAKA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has appeared to compare himself with Adolf Hitler, saying he would be “happy to slaughter” millions of drug addicts just like Nazi Germany killed three million Jews.

“Hitler massacred three million Jews… there’s three million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them,” Duterte said early on Friday on his arrival in Davao City after a visit to Vietnam, reports Al Jazeera.

“If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have ...,” he said, pausing and pointing to himself, according to the media reports.

While Hitler’s victims were innocent people, Duterte said his targets were “all criminals” and that getting rid of them would “finish the (drug) problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition”.

Historians say that six million Jews were killed by the Nazis under Hitler before and during World War II.

Duterte was elected in a May vote on the back of a promise to wage war on drugs and other crimes in the country of 100 million people.

He took office on June 30 and more than 3,500 people have been killed since then in police operations and attacks by unidentified assailants.

BDST: 1832 HRS, SEP 30, 2016
NJ/RR