The perpetrators behind a bomb attack on Sunday outside a Catholic church in the southern Philippines that killed five people and wounded 35 others were believed to be trained by foreign militants hiding in the country, the military said Monday.

Major Randolph Cabangbang, regional military spokesman of Philippine Army's Eastern Command, told Xinhua by phone that attackers who detonated a home-made bomb in front of a meat shop near the Cotabato City's Immaculate Conception Cathedral have been trained by Al-Qaida affiliated militants working with the Special Operation Group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's largest rebel organization seeking for an independent Islamic state in the troubled region.

"There's an ongoing operation to capture those terrorists. We have a directive from Manila to augment our bomb experts and to provide additional bomb sniffing dogs," Cabangbang said.

Militants hiding in the country include Jemmaah Islamiyah (JI) bomb experts Omar Patek and Dulmatin, both believed responsible for several bombings in the region, according to the military.

Patek is believed to have served as the assistant for the field coordinator of the Bali bombings in Indonesia while his companion, Dulmatin, an electronics specialist trained in al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan, is a senior JI figure.

Another militant is Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan who has been in the country since 2003 and there is a five-million-dollar bounty for his arrest.

"They were here in the country and trained the SOG (Special Operation Group) of MILF rebels. But as of now, we have not seen indication regarding their participation in yesterday's bombing," Cabangbang said.

Jonathan Ponce, another Army spokesman, said soldiers captured a suspected bomber right after the blast and have turned him over to the police.

"The suspect was trapped because he's not familiar in the city," Ponce said.

However, rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu denied the accusation that MILF fighters were involvement in the blast.

He said blaming the attack to them is unfair as they have been working for an inter-religious dialogue in Mindanao.

"We are not responsible for the bombing as what I told to other journalist. We even condemn this attack. We have a policy against violence and we are clear on that," said Kabalu.

"Our organization is never in time infusing a Muslim-Christian conflict in Mindanao. That's not our cause. We respect our brothers in the Christian faith and we don't even tolerate violence that will eventually brew Muslim-Christian hatred," he added.

The fresh bombing attack occurred as the military intensified its offensive against some rouge members of the 11,800-strong separatist group, who attacked the Christian communities in the south last August 2008 after the government failed to sign a territory agreement with the MILF as scheduled.

The attacks prompted the government to suspend peace talks with the MILF and order a massive assault after the rebels. The fighting has affected more than 600,000 people.

Source: Xinhua