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Military officials said Friday that a blast at a military facility in the southern Philippines has killed a soldier and wounded another.

Capt. Jo-ann Petinglay, an army spokeswoman, said that an initial assessment shows the explosion was from a 40 mm round fired from a grenade launcher which landed beside the guard post of a special forces battalion headquarters in southern Cotabato City.

Authorities are still determining the identities of the suspects and a motive behind the Thursday evening blast.

Cotabato is a trading hub 545 miles (880km) south of Manila. It has been hit previously by bombings blamed on Muslim rebels and extortion gangs.

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