The military said Friday that it aborted a terror attack believed to be orchestrated by suspected members of a breakaway rebel group in southern Philippines.

Regional military spokesman Col. Prudencio Asto said soldiers defused two homemade bombs in front of the main entrance of the municipal council hall of Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao.

Asto said the explosives were attached to a mobile phone as triggering device.

"We suspect their targets were our troops conducting foot patrol in the area," the military official said, referring to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), the armed wing of the Bangsamoro Islamic Liberation Movement which broke away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.