War on numbers - Philippines targets drug killing data

FILE PHOTO: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte attends a plenary session during the 34th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok, Thailand, June 22, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

MANILA (Reuters) - Facing a U.N. human rights investigation into its bloody war on drugs, the Philippines presented a new death toll on Thursday to counter much higher numbers given by critics.

But rights groups accused the government of using partial data to mislead and said that even the official figure of more than 5,500 police killings in drug operations was far too high and there must be accountability for every death.