The ministry said the two officers were killed and five policemen wounded late Saturday night when they intervened to disperse a "tribal dispute" in the Saada area of the Iraqi capital.

Security forces had returned fire after being attacked by "those who started the clashes", killing two attackers and wounding five others, the ministry added. Six attackers were also arrested.

The ministry did not specify the cause of the dispute, but tribal feuds are common in Iraq, a war-scarred country awash with weapons.

Tribes wield significant influence and often operate under their own moral and judicial codes, and they possess huge caches of arms.

Iraq has only recently begun to regain a sense of stability after decades of violence that followed the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted long-time ruler Saddam Hussein.