John Bacon

USA TODAY

U.S. forces advising the Philippine military against an Islamic insurgency are doing more harm than good and must leave, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday.

Duterte, who made international headlines last week by crudely insulting President Obama, said white Westerners are an inviting target for kidnap-for-ransom groups such as the militant Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines. Duterte blamed his government's ties to the West — and a grisly U.S. military operation that targeted Muslims more than 100 years ago — for fueling much of the unrest centered in the Mindanao island group.

”I do not want a rift with America, but they have to go," Duterte, who is from the Mindanao region, said during a speech in Manila. "Americans, they (insurgents) will really kill them."

Duterte said he had planned to raise the issue last week when he and Obama attended the ASEAN Summit in Laos but did not do so "out of respect." He provided no timeline for a U.S. exit.

In Washington, the White House said it had not received a formal request to remove U.S. military personnel, spokesman Josh Earnest said. He added that Duterte had a tendency to make “colorful comments,” the Associated Press reported.

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Duterte spokesman Ernesto Abella said the Philippine president's comments reflected the government's "new direction toward coursing an independent foreign policy."

Abella also pointed to lasting resentment over the U.S military campaign in 1906 that led to the slaughter of hundreds of Muslims in the southern Philippines. Duterte has criticized the United States for failing to apologize for the bloodbath.

"Hence our continued connection with the West is the real reason for the 'Islamic' threat in Mindanao,” Abella said in a statement issued through the Philippines News Agency .

The tough-talking Duterte has had a bumpy relationship with the U.S. since taking office in June. He drew sharp international criticism, including from the United Nations, for encouraging vigilante-style killings of drug dealers and criminals. Duterte shrugged off the controversy.

"Maybe we'll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations," Duterte said.

On Sept. 3, Duterte issued a warning before the summit began in Laos that Obama better not condemn his law-and-order policies, or “son of a bitch, I will swear at you in that forum."

Duterte later walked back the comment, saying he looked forward to "ironing out differences" between the two countries.

The Philippines was a U.S. colony from 1898 until the 1940s. The island group hosted permanent U.S. military bases until the Philippine government ordered them removed 25 years ago.

The U.S.has provided advisers some level of aid to fight Abu Sayyaf for more than a decade. Recently, the Philippine government has increased its own military effort to crush the militants.

”Those (U.S.) special forces, they have to go," Duterte said. "There are many white (people) there. They have to go."