Bangkok: The death toll in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody "war on drugs" has risen to 3426 since July 1 as the United Nations steps up its criticism of the crackdown.
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The surge in killings includes, at time of writing, 1491 accused drug suspects shot in supposed police operations and 1936 killed by vigilantes and unidentified hit-men.
A daily kill-list published by the Philippine Inquirer newspaper points to serious discrepancies in police accounts of the deaths.
On Tuesday the list recorded that seven-month pregnant Yvonne Tapales and her live-in partner Mark Bacaluyos were killed in a "dawn gun battle with police" in El Salvador City on southern Mindanao island.
But journalists later confirmed their bodies were actually found lying naked together on their bed.
Mr Duterte has repeatedly told police not to worry about investigations into police shootings although police claim that 1490 deaths are under investigation.
Among the latest deaths was a four-year-old girl shot dead while hugging her father on the back of a motorcycle while he was taking her shopping.
As the death toll climbs, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Hussein has told the Human Rights Council in Geneva that Mr Duterte's contempt for human rights' law reflects "a lack of understanding of our human rights institutions and the principles which keep societies safe".
Jordanian Prince Zeid said the people of the Philippines have a right to judicial institutions that are impartial and operate under due process guarantees.
"They have a right to a police force that serves justice," he said.
Prince Zeid urged the Philippines to allow Agnes Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions to investigate the deaths.
Mr Duterte's spokesman earlier ruled out any UN investigation, saying that would be "objectionable interference" in "household affairs". Mr Duterte has threatened to leave the UN.
Across the Philippines, human rights and civil society activists who criticise the crackdown are facing fierce abuse from a population exasperated by illegal drugs, especially methamphetamine, the cheap highly addictive drug.
Polls show that Mr Duterte's approval rating still hovers above 90 per cent.
The former mayor of southern Davao City was swept into office in May elections on a promise to wipe out criminals and that fish in Manila Bay would grow fat from eating criminals under his rule.
His police operation directing the crackdown is called Campaign Plan Double Barrel (one barrel for high-value-targets and one barrel for street level suspects).
Police chief Ronald Dela Rosa has declared his aim to see the drugs trade wiped out within six months.
The 160,000-strong Philippine police force says it has conducted 17,799 police operations with 16,607 drug "personalities" arrested and 943,863 houses visited.
According to police 710,961 people have surrendered to them (52,744 "pushers" and 658,217 "users").
Overcrowding has since become chronic in the country's jails with reports that cells are so full prisoners take it in turns to lie down to sleep.
Many Filipinos have complained they have been wrongly placed on lists of drug users and pushers complied by local village chiefs, who have used the crackdown to remove political rivals.
Other killings are blamed on criminal and gang rivalries.
Police say 10 police have been killed and 10 wounded during drug operations.
Mr Duterte has estimated that 3.7 million of 101 million Filipinos have been using illegal drugs, one of the highest rates of drug use in Asia.
