Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will not cooperate with an investigation into the country's bloody war on drugs planned by the International Criminal Court (ICC), his spokesperson said on Tuesday, while families of the victims cheered the move.

In what human rights groups described as a landmark step towards justice, the ICC prosecutor asked the court on Monday to allow a full investigation into the killings in the brutal war on drugs, which Duterte unleashed when he took office in 2016.

Since then, Philippine security forces say they have killed 6,117 suspected drug dealers because they fought back violently, but rights groups say authorities have summarily executed drug suspects.

- Reuters -