HAT YAI, Thailand (AP)

A roadside bomb exploded in Thailand’s insurgency-plagued south Wednesday, killing two teachers and wounding three other people, police said.

Suspected insurgents detonated the explosive as a car carrying three teachers passed by a hospital in Chanae district in Narathiwat province, Police Col. Patta Madawah said. Investigators believe the militants were targeting a police vehicle in front of the teachers’ car.

Two female teachers, aged 43 and 38, were killed and a male teacher was seriously wounded in the explosion. Two police officers were wounded in the attack.

More than 5,000 people, including more than 150 teachers, have been killed since an Islamic insurgency erupted in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces in 2004.

Wednesday’s explosion came two weeks after Muslim separatist negotiators agreed to attempt to halt violence during Ramadan as part of ongoing peace talks with the Thai government.