Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Credit:AP Mr Duterte has previously likened himself to the late dictator Idi Amin Dada who was accused of gross human rights violations and killings while ruling Uganda. The comments came after two of the US's most powerful politicians told the US Senate that Mr Duterte is "advocating and endorsing" mass murder and stoking instability in his war on drugs as more than 6000 Filipinos are expected to be executed by the end this year. Senator Patrick Leahy, a powerful member of a committee that approves US aid to foreign nations, warned in a dramatic intervention that "when governments condone extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances, and prey on vulnerable populations, they are sowing the seeds of instability, not preventing it." Images by Fairfax Media photographer Kate Geraghty show dramatic and gruesome scenes of the streets of Manila, as three men were executed and their bodies left by a railway track early on Friday. Three men were detained for questioning at the scene.

The body of one of the three men slain. According to people living in the area there was a gun battle for approximately one hour. Credit:Kate Geraghty Senator Leahy, the longest serving Democrat Senator and former chair of the foreign relations committee, said he is "deeply concerned" by the extra-judicial killings and state-sanctioned violence in the Philippines and if they continue "there will need to be an appropriate response by the US government." Benjamin Cardin, another influential senator, also warned that relations between the US and Philippines are at a crossroads as the bodies pile up across the south-east Asian nation. Three men arrested at the scene where three men were killed in a drug related killing in Caloocan, Manila, Philippines. Credit:Kate Geraghty "In advocating and endorsing what amounts to mass murder (the Duterte administration) has chosen the wrong way" to deal with the problems caused by drugs, Senator Cardin said.

"If the current trends continue we can expect that over 6000 people will be dead as a result of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines by the end of the year," he said. The body of one of the alleged drug dealers in Manila, Philippines. Credit:Kate Geraghty "This is not a situation in which there is occasional error or the over-zealous application of force…this is systematic, widespread, brutal and beyond the bounds for a constitutional democracy." President Duterte, the 71 year-old former mayor of southern Davao City known as The Punisher, hit back, telling the senators "do not interfere in our affairs." Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont. Credit:Bloomberg

He accused the US of hypocrisy in criticising him while black men in the US are shot while on the ground during arrests. He also lashed the US for going to war against Iraq "on the flimsy excuse that there was a weapon of mass destruction" and claimed the US was responsible for the "slaughtering" of civilians in Syria because Washington wanted to remove president Bashar al-Assad from power. Police inspect the scene of one of the three men slain in a drug related killing in Caloocan, Manila, Philippines. Credit:Kate Geraghty "Do not pretend to be the moral conscience of the world. Do not be the policeman because you do not have the eligibility to do that in my country," Mr Duterte told the US. Since being swept into power at May elections, Mr Duterte has made a rash of anti-US outbursts, jolting one of the US's key defence relationships in Asia at a time of concerns about China's aggressive claim to almost of the strategic and resource rich waters of the South China Sea.

US president Barack Obama cancelled a meeting with Mr Duterte during a world leader's summit in Laos after the Philippine president referred to him as "the son of a whore." The US's allies, including the Turnbull government, have become increasingly concerned about the deteriorating relationship between the Duterte administration and Washington. The US rotates ships, planes, equipment and forces through Philippine military bases. Senator Leahy, from Vermont, said Mr Duterte is missing an opportunity to combat the drug trade in a sustainable way by helping hundreds of thousands of people get the help to beat their addiction. "No amount of killing will result in reforms that improve the judiciary, end corruption and impunity in law enforcement, or rehabilitate those caught in the vicious cycle of addiction," he said.

"To the contrary, if president Duterte is serious about improving conditions in the Philippines, he should be focusing on improving services for Filipinos, not casting them aside; holding law enforcement accountable, not giving them a blanket licence to kill suspects; and strengthening the judiciary, not undercutting it." Loading Senator Leahy wrote a law which commits the US to ensure it is not complicit in human rights violations committed by forces in other countries that have received US assistance and to encourage foreign countries to hold accountable the perpetrators of any abuses. with Reuters