Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte "appeared to encourage" his country's soldiers to shoot female rebels in their vaginas at an event last week, the Washington Post reported Monday citing an article in Coconuts Manila.

"Tell the soldiers. 'There's a new order coming from the mayor (Duterte is a former mayor). We won't kill you. We will just shoot your vagina...If there is no vagina, it would be useless," Duterte was quoted as saying in the Post, which said these remarks were "the latest in a series of violent, misogynistic remarks."

The US newspaper said Duterte "regularly denigrates and threatens women, but when challenged, insists it was all just a joke."

The firebrand leader is known worldwide for his signature campaign - a war on drugs - in which about 4,000 mostly urban poor Filipinos have been killed by police.

Activists believe the death toll is far higher and accuse police or systematic cover-ups and executions. Police and the government dismiss that.

International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors have opened a preliminary examination into the campaign. Duterte on Friday told the ICC to go ahead and investigate him for crimes against humanity, and said he would prefer to face a firing squad than be jailed.

(Inputs from Reuters)

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