MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday the CIA secretly orchestrated a botched raid targeting an alleged terrorist that left 44 Filipino policemen dead two years ago.
Police commandos killed Zulkifli Abdhir, who was on the US government’s list of “Most Wanted Terrorists,” in the raid in remote farmland in the southern Philippines, where various separatist rebel groups and more hard-line militants are based.
However, gunmen ambushed the attacking police commandos and killed 44 of them in a day-long battle, with a Philippine Senate investigation blaming poor planning and coordination for the deaths.
The raid was carried out during the term of Duterte’s predecessor Benigno Aquino.
It derailed Aquino’s efforts to forge a peace pact with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to end a decades-long rebellion.
“It was an American adventure with the cooperation of some, and apparently with your blessing,” Duterte said, referring to Aquino.
“Why was it kept under wraps? It was actually an operation of the CIA.”
Duterte made the allegations in a speech to widows and other relatives of the 44 policemen killed in the raid, after receiving them at the Malacanang presidential palace.
Duterte has during his seven months in office sought to loosen the Philippines’ longtime alliance with the US while forging closer ties with China and Russia.
Aquino had justified the police raid, saying that Zulkifli had been training militants in the southern Philippines in how to make bombs.
The US had said Zulkifli was a top militant in the Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiyah.
A Philippine Senate report into the raid concluded the US played a “substantial” role by providing training, equipment and intelligence to the Filipino forces.
However, it did not refer to the CIA.
Responding to the Senate report in 2015, a US government official said at the time: “This operation was planned and executed by Philippine authorities. We refer you to them for details of the operation.”
Spokesmen for the US Embassy in Manila and Aquino did not immediately reply to requests for reaction to Duterte’s latest comments.
Duterte also alleged on Tuesday Aquino held back reinforcements and let the commandos die because the government did not want to risk a fresh war with the MILF, which had signed a peace agreement 10 months earlier.
“It is not enough to tell the people it was your fault. You (Aquino) must tell me what you did. You fed the soldiers to the lion’s den to be eaten by death,” Duterte said.
The police have come under intense scrutiny as the frontline troops in Duterte’s efforts to eradicate illegal drugs in society.
A top police officer alleged on Tuesday that policemen robbed and extorted money from three South Korean golfers as part of a suspected larger racket targeting tourists from the neighboring nation.
The announcement fueled fears of police abuse under the cover of Duterte’s deadly war on crime, after authorities announced last week policemen murdered a South Korean businessman then extorted money from his wife.
“They came to the Philippines just to play golf but they went through a traumatic experience,” said Chief Superintendent Aaron Aquino, the regional police head.
He said the three South Koreans were staying in an upscale gated community in Angeles City, about two hours’ drive north of Manila, when policemen barged into their house under the pretext of carrying out an illegal gambling raid on Dec. 30.
They robbed the Koreans of their computers, jewelry, golf clubs, golf shoes and 10,000 pesos ($200), according to Aquino.
He said the three South Koreans were then held at a police station for about eight hours until a friend paid 300,000 pesos for their freedom.
The three reported the incident to the South Korean embassy, which informed the national police, Aquino said.
This led to an investigation that found seven policemen were involved, according to Aquino, who said they all faced the sack.
However, he said the offending officers would not face criminal charges because that would require the South Koreans, who had fled, to return to the Philippines.
“They don’t want to come back. They are terrified,” he said.
The incident took place in the same gated subdivision where policemen abducted a South Korean businessman in October, Aquino said.
The businessman, abducted in a fake anti-drug operation, was strangled inside the national police headquarters in Manila but his wife, thinking he was alive, later paid about $100,000 in ransom, authorities said last week.
Aquino said the two incidents were not related but he suspected rogue policemen had targeted many South Koreans in the Angeles area.
“I suspect there are many (such incidents) but most of the crimes committed against the South Koreans are not being reported. They are all afraid,” he said.
The murder of the businessmen has shocked and angered the South Korean government, with Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se demanding those behind the crime be brought to justice.
Police commandos killed Zulkifli Abdhir, who was on the US government’s list of “Most Wanted Terrorists,” in the raid in remote farmland in the southern Philippines, where various separatist rebel groups and more hard-line militants are based.
However, gunmen ambushed the attacking police commandos and killed 44 of them in a day-long battle, with a Philippine Senate investigation blaming poor planning and coordination for the deaths.
The raid was carried out during the term of Duterte’s predecessor Benigno Aquino.
It derailed Aquino’s efforts to forge a peace pact with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to end a decades-long rebellion.
“It was an American adventure with the cooperation of some, and apparently with your blessing,” Duterte said, referring to Aquino.
“Why was it kept under wraps? It was actually an operation of the CIA.”
Duterte made the allegations in a speech to widows and other relatives of the 44 policemen killed in the raid, after receiving them at the Malacanang presidential palace.
Duterte has during his seven months in office sought to loosen the Philippines’ longtime alliance with the US while forging closer ties with China and Russia.
Aquino had justified the police raid, saying that Zulkifli had been training militants in the southern Philippines in how to make bombs.
The US had said Zulkifli was a top militant in the Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiyah.
A Philippine Senate report into the raid concluded the US played a “substantial” role by providing training, equipment and intelligence to the Filipino forces.
However, it did not refer to the CIA.
Responding to the Senate report in 2015, a US government official said at the time: “This operation was planned and executed by Philippine authorities. We refer you to them for details of the operation.”
Spokesmen for the US Embassy in Manila and Aquino did not immediately reply to requests for reaction to Duterte’s latest comments.
Duterte also alleged on Tuesday Aquino held back reinforcements and let the commandos die because the government did not want to risk a fresh war with the MILF, which had signed a peace agreement 10 months earlier.
“It is not enough to tell the people it was your fault. You (Aquino) must tell me what you did. You fed the soldiers to the lion’s den to be eaten by death,” Duterte said.
The police have come under intense scrutiny as the frontline troops in Duterte’s efforts to eradicate illegal drugs in society.
A top police officer alleged on Tuesday that policemen robbed and extorted money from three South Korean golfers as part of a suspected larger racket targeting tourists from the neighboring nation.
The announcement fueled fears of police abuse under the cover of Duterte’s deadly war on crime, after authorities announced last week policemen murdered a South Korean businessman then extorted money from his wife.
“They came to the Philippines just to play golf but they went through a traumatic experience,” said Chief Superintendent Aaron Aquino, the regional police head.
He said the three South Koreans were staying in an upscale gated community in Angeles City, about two hours’ drive north of Manila, when policemen barged into their house under the pretext of carrying out an illegal gambling raid on Dec. 30.
They robbed the Koreans of their computers, jewelry, golf clubs, golf shoes and 10,000 pesos ($200), according to Aquino.
He said the three South Koreans were then held at a police station for about eight hours until a friend paid 300,000 pesos for their freedom.
The three reported the incident to the South Korean embassy, which informed the national police, Aquino said.
This led to an investigation that found seven policemen were involved, according to Aquino, who said they all faced the sack.
However, he said the offending officers would not face criminal charges because that would require the South Koreans, who had fled, to return to the Philippines.
“They don’t want to come back. They are terrified,” he said.
The incident took place in the same gated subdivision where policemen abducted a South Korean businessman in October, Aquino said.
The businessman, abducted in a fake anti-drug operation, was strangled inside the national police headquarters in Manila but his wife, thinking he was alive, later paid about $100,000 in ransom, authorities said last week.
Aquino said the two incidents were not related but he suspected rogue policemen had targeted many South Koreans in the Angeles area.
“I suspect there are many (such incidents) but most of the crimes committed against the South Koreans are not being reported. They are all afraid,” he said.
The murder of the businessmen has shocked and angered the South Korean government, with Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se demanding those behind the crime be brought to justice.
