Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte hit back at Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former US president Bill Clinton, after she criticised the ‘joke’ he made about his troops raping women, and asked if she was equally incensed with her father after news of his affair with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern, surfaced in 1998.

Philippines Army is fighting Islamist militants in the southern part of the country. To tackle the insurgents, who have owed allegiance to the Islamic State, Duterte has declared martial law in the entire southern region of Mindanao. Addressing his troops on Tuesday, who are preparing for a major offensive, Duterte said that he alone will be responsible for the consequences of imposing martial law and reportedly joked that he would protect them if they raped up to three women.

“Just do your work. I will handle the rest. I will be imprisoned for you. If you rape three (women), I will say that I did it,” Duterte said addressing his troops.

This did not go down well with Clinton, who took to Twitter to express outrage against Duterte’s comment. She said his comments were not funny and called the Philippine president a “murderous thug with no regard for human rights”.

Responding to the criticism, Duterte on Wednesday, targeted Clinton, asking if she also criticised her father, who, during his time as the president of the United States, had an affair with a White House intern.

“These whores, they hear “rape.” Like, Chelsea, she slammed me. I was being sarcastic. Listen to the speech. I do not laugh at my own jokes. I will tell her, when your father, the president of the United States, was f***ing Lewinsky and the girls in the White House, how did you feel? Did you slam your father,” he said.

Duterte also accused the US Army of raping women in the Philippines and Japan.