Story highlights Police report dozens of drug deaths in province north of Manila

Thousands have been killed in drug operations since President Duterte came to office

(CNN) Thirty-two suspected drug dealers were killed in shootouts across one province in the Philippines on Tuesday, police said, in a bloody 24 hours for the country's war on drugs.

Police conducted 66 "buy-bust" operations, in which undercover police attempt to buy illegal drugs from suspected dealers, in the province of Bulacan, just north of the capital, Manila, Romeo Caramat Jr., Bulacan Provincial Director Senior Superintendent, said.

Twenty of the "buy bust" operations and 14 searches "resulted in armed encounter," Caramat added.

Since coming to power in June 2016, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has unleashed an aggressive crackdown on drugs that has left at least 3,400 alleged dealers and users dead.

On Wednesday he praised the operations, saying, "That's good. If we can only kill 32 every day, maybe we can fix what ails this country," according to a translation by CNN affiliate CNN Philippines.

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