Filipino mayor, 9 others killed after shootout with anti-drug officers

A mayor and nine others were killed early Friday in the Philippines after a gun battle broke out between the men and anti-narcotics officers, police say.

President Rodrigo Duterte has famously declared he would be "happy to slaughter" all drug addicts, and since taking office June 30, police estimate that more than 3,600 suspected drug dealers and addicts have been killed. Police say that Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi Ampatuan and nine others were approaching a checkpoint in North Cotabato province when they opened fire from three cars. Superintendent Bernard Tayong told The Associated Press that Duterte had named Dimaukom as one of several politicians he suspected was involved in illegal drugs.

In other Duterte news, the profanity-loving president announced Thursday in his hometown that he'd made a promise to God that he would stop cursing. Duterte — who called Pope Francis a "son of a bitch" and told President Obama to "go to hell" — said he was flying home from a trip to Japan when he heard a voice say, "'If you don't stop epithets, I will bring this plane down now.' And I said, 'Who is this?' So, of course, it's God." Duterte said he's stopping the swearing cold turkey because a "promise to God is a promise to the Filipino people," but when the crowd began to applaud, he warned, "Don't clap too much or else this may get derailed."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.