The United States has expressed concern about a Bangladeshi anti-drugs campaign in which more than 100 people have died but the government has dismissed any suggestion of extra-judicial killings and said the crackdown had popular support.

The Bangladesh government launched the drive against trafficking this month, and police have arrested more than 10,000 people across the country as alarm grows about drugs, in particular the spread of the stimulant methamphetamine.

But the campaign has raised fears among rights activists of a Philippine-style war on drugs and the US ambassador, Marcia Bernicat, voiced concern about the bloodshed.

“Of course I express concern about the number of people dying,” Bernicat told reporters on Wednesday after talks with Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan in which the campaign was discussed.

“Everyone in a democracy has a right to due process. If there is a violent confrontation people may not survive that, but the goal should be zero tolerance, the goal should be to try and bring everyone to justice,” she said.

The interior minister, Khan, did not comment on Thursday on Bernicat’s concerns, but told Reuters that as of Tuesday, 102 drug traffickers had been killed in gun fights with law enforcement officers.

“These aren’t extra-judicial killings. Our forces are bound to use arms only to save themselves,” Khan said.