Communists claim Abu Sayyaf Bohol raid was CIA and army conspiracy

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Soldiers clash with Abu Sayyaf terrorists on Bohol on Tuesday. Picture courtesy of the AFP

The Communist Party of the Philippines CPP has claimed that the recent Abu Sayyaf raid on Bohol was a conspiracy cooked by the American government and Philippine military.

A statement released by the CCP today read: “The news stories regarding the supposed arrival and presence of members of the Abu Sayaff criminal bandit group in Bohol island smacks of a US yarn.

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“The AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) media office, known for spinning fake news stories, has produced a highly dubious story of no less than 60 fully armed men who travelled 300 kilometres by boat from Sulu to Bohol, unhampered by the whole AFP establishment, then upstream to a place unknown to them with only a general plan to ‘target tourists’.

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The boats on which a force of 11 Abu Sayyaf fighters (initially estimated at 60) landed on Bohol on Tuesday. Picture courtesy of the AFP.

The CPP claimed that such a story was “typical of the tall tales” spun by the CIA and their “conspirators” within the Philippine military establishment.

“The Filipino people find most of the press statements released by the military, police, and local government officials as highly suspect,” it added.

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The CPP, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by the USA, claims that the concocted Abu Sayyaf raid on Bohol was part of a plot by the US to increase the presence of its troops in the Central Visayas region.

“It broke out just a week prior to the ASEAN ministerial meeting scheduled for later this month Cebu. It is no secret that the US military has long been eyeing to establish facilities in the Mactan air field,” it said.

“The US military also aims to establish itself more firmly in the Eastern Visayas region having established US facilities in Guian, Samar, under the guise of post-Yolanda rescue operations.”

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The CCP statement also pointed to the annual Balikatan joint military exercises, which are set to start on April 24 in Leyte, which it described as “just north of Bohol”.

“The full extent of the plans surrounding the ‘Abu Sayaff in Bohol’ yarn will likely unravel itself in the coming days and weeks. The Filipino people should keep a critical eye and spot the fakery in all these,” it added.

The clashes on the island on Tuesday led to the deaths of at least five suspected terrorists, three Army soldiers and one policeman.

However, the CCP also questions this account. “Two among the so-called ‘bandits’ killed by the military was a 65-year old couple identified by barangay officials as Constancio and Crisente Petalco who were residents of Barangay Napo, where the clash occurred.”

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Abu Sayyaf leader Moammar Askali, also known as Abu Rami, was among the five terrorists killed in the raid

The statement also questions how the US Embassy in Manila came to be the first official body to warn of the attack. “Three days prior to the encounter, the US Embassy in Manila released a travel advisory warning their citizens against travelling to Cebu and Bohol because of supposed information of a terror threat’ in these places, which the AFP and PNP had no idea of.”

The statement further alleged that Abu Sayaff had always been a tool of the AFP and the US military establishment.

“Recall that the Abu Sayaff was originally formed in the 1980s by a group of armed men recruited by the US military to join the Taliban group which waged a CIA-hatched ‘jihad’ against the then Soviet-supported Afghanistan government,” it said.

The reason for this collaboration, the statement claimed, was to discredit the Moro people’s struggle for self-determination. “It has been used to carry out terrorist bombings and other dirty jobs for the CIA to justify its ‘war on terror’ and the presence of US foreign troops in the country,” it said.

“For more than 15 years now, the AFP has been downplaying the strength of the Abu Sayaff and making claims it can easily wipe out the criminal bandit group. The Abu Sayaff bandit groups, however, repeatedly reemerges depending on the need of the US and AFP.”

The military has not commented on the allegations.

MORE ON ABU SAYYAF AND TERRORISM IN THE PHILIPPINES:

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Nine dead after Islamic-State linked terrorists storm tourist island

US Embassy warns that terror groups plan to kidnap tourists in Cebu and Bohol

Abu Sayyaf terrorists kill three militiamen, while others lay down arms

Couple suspected of Islamic State bomb plot arrested in Manila

Battle-hardened Islamic State fighters plan to regroup in southern Philippines

Australian foreign minister fears Islamic State is coming to the Philippines

Factsheet: The Abu Sayyaf terror group – who they are and what they do

“Now he kills me”: Last words of German beheaded by Abu Sayyaf

Duterte says Abu Sayyaf ‘not criminals’, and blames US for terrorism

Islamic State plotting new terror stronghold in Mindanao

Islamic State chief seriously wounded as he plotted new lair for terrorists

UK jihadist who said bullet-proof boxer shorts were “snake protection” found guilty

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