Rodrigo Duterte, Philippine president, vows to Islamic terrorists: ‘I will eat you alive, raw’

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has moved on from insulting President Obama to a diplomatically safer target — Islamic terrorists.

Mr. Duterte’s office issued a statement on Tuesday saying he regretted calling Mr. Obama a “son of a whore” yesterday — a move that cost him a one-on-one meeting at the G-20 Summit in Laos — but he showed no signs of recanting threats against Abu Sayyaf.

“They will pay. When the time comes, I will eat you in front of people,” the 71-year-old leader told a Filipino audience late Monday, Agence France-Press reported Tuesday. “If you make me mad, in all honesty, I will eat you alive, raw. […] I will really carve your torso open. Give me vinegar and salt and I will eat you. I’m not kidding.”

The outspoken president’s comments come just days after an attack in his hometown of Davao killed 14. An attack by Abu Sayyaf also killed 15 soldiers last month.

Drug cartels in the Philippines know that Mr. Duterte means business. Nearly 2,500 people have died since the anti-crime candidate took office June 30.

Human rights activists and western leaders have reacted in horror at the leader’s embrace of vigilantism and extrajudicial killings.

“Double your efforts,” Mr. Duterte told police during a speech to the nation on July 25. “Triple them, if need be. We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier, and the last pusher have surrendered or [been] put behind bars — or below the ground, if they so wish.”