Two bombs exploded in quick succession in Thailand’s restive Muslim south on Wednesday, killing two people and wounding at least 28, police said.

The first bomb, hidden in a motorcycle, exploded near a car showroom in Yala province, 1,100 km (680 miles) south of Bangkok, police said. As rescue workers and bomb squads arrived at the scene, the second bomb exploded in a street 30 metres away.

More than 3,900 people, both Buddhists and Muslims, have been killed in six years of unrest in the largely Muslim, rubber-rich region bordering Malaysia.

Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provinces were part of an independent sultanate known as Patani until annexed in 1909 by predominantly Buddhist Thailand.

The attackers, believed to be separatists, often target Buddhists and Muslims associated with the Thai state such as police officers, soldiers, government officials and teachers.

No credible group has claimed responsibility for attacks in the region, where a majority of the people speak a Malay dialect as their first language and have long complained of discrimination, especially in education and job opportunities.

(Reporting by Surapan Boonthanom in Yala and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Nopporn Wong-Anan; Editing by Alan Raybould)