Duterte blames CIA

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said yesterday the US Central Intelligence Agency secretly orchestrated a botched raid targeting an alleged Islamic 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 Muslim separatist rebel groups and more hardline militants are based.

However Muslim 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 nation's main Muslim separatist group, 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 United States while forging closer ties with China and Russia.