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1 killed, 7 hurt in Philippine blasts

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-20 23:45

MANILA: One government militiaman was killed while seven others were wounded in two separate explosions in the insurgency-infested southern Philippines on Monday, officials said.

Philippine policemen check the scene of the grenade blast in Cotabato city, the Philippines, July 20, 2009. [Xinhua]

A home-made bomb went off along a road in Upi town of Maguindanao province when soldiers and pro-government militiamen were on their routine morning patrol, said Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, a regional military spokesman. One militiaman was killed on spot.

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Hours later, four motorcycle-riding suspects lobbed a grenade in front of a grocery store in the neighboring Cotabato city, wounding a police officer and six others.

Cabangbang said one of the suspects, whose identity was not immediately known, was arrested before he could escape from the city's checkpoint.

No group has claimed the responsibility for the attacks but Cabangbang said the military suspected the involvement of Muslim rebels based in the region.

Philippine policemen check the scene of the grenade blast in Cotabato city, the Philippines, July 20, 2009. [Xinhua]

Explosion and kidnapping have become rampant in central Mindanao since the beginning of this year. Earlier this month, a home-made bomb exploded in front of a major Catholic Church in Cotabato city just after the Sunday mass ended. Six people were killed while 50 others were wounded.

Rouge rebels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's largest rebel group, were blamed for the attack but crime observers warned that the threat might come from a recent convergence of bandits, militants and terrorists of the Jemaah Islamiah (JL) and the Abu Sayyaf spin-off groups in central Minandao.