DAKAR, 26 Aug (Reuters) - Suspected Senegalese separatist gunmen killed two people and wounded two others in an attacks on vehicles in the restive southern province of Casamance, officials said on Wednesday.

The attacks late on Tuesday followed a shelling of the provincial university earlier in the day and clashes between the security forces and Movement of the Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) rebels over the weekend.

"Two people were killed and two others injured when a group of unidentified men opened fire on the bus," Daouda Diop, spokesman for the paramilitary gendarmerie told Reuters.

The attack took place near the village of Djignaky, 50 km (31 miles) east of the provincial capital Ziguinchor, and was the second of the day.

The MFDC has waged low-level insurgency fighting for southern independence over the last two decades. It is often difficult to differentiate between criminality and rebellion but Tuesday's attacks are a sign of the conflict intensifying.

"The situation is heating up here," a security source told Reuters, adding that no one was injured when one shell landed in the first attack at the Ziguinchor university campus.

Over the weekend soldiers and suspected rebels exchanged gunfire on the outskirts of the provincial capital.

The rebel movement has accused the central government of neglecting Casamance and numerous peace deals have failed to secure lasting peace for the region, a tourist hotspot and grain producer for the West African country. (Reporting by Diadie Ba; Editing by David Lewis)

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