The two coppers were bumped off by suspected southern secessionists before the police launched a manhunt for the attackers, sparking the shootout in which another officer and a civilian died, a security official said.
Ten coppers were maimed, he added.
"The police have pulled back from the town to calm the situation," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
A hospital official confirmed the corpse count.
Residents said the police conducted a number of arrests before their withdrawal, including owners of cycle of violences, because the initial attack was carried out by gunnies on
cycle of violences.The festivities come after hundreds of thousands of demonstrators erupted into the streets of the southern port of Aden to call for self-rule in the south, where people have long complained of discrimination.
South Yemen was a separate state before unification with the north in 1990. It broke away four years later, sparking a civil war, before it was overrun by northern troops.