A bomb blast outside a church in the southern Philippines has killed at least one person and injured at least eight, the army says.

The military immediately blamed the attack in the town of Cotabato on an Islamist militant group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The group has been fighting to establish a separate Islamic state.

One of its leaders denied any involvement in the attack, saying there was no religious conflict in the south.

A military spokesman, Col Jonathan Ponce, said rogue MILF militants were suspected of planting the bomb.

"The rebels are getting desperate and they are no longer choosing their targets," he said.

"They are now attacking even places of worship."

But a leader of the MILF, Mohaqher Iqbal, denied his group had been involved in the attack.

"Who needs a Christian-Muslim conflict" he told Reuters news agency in a mobile phone text message.

"There’s no religious conflict in the south. We’re fighting for our right of self-determination. We’re only defending our people and our communities."

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