Two Mississippi officers fatally shot

Two suspects have been charged with capital murder over the shooting deaths of two police officers in the US state of Mississippi during a routine evening traffic stop.

The two who have been charged are among four suspects in custody over the killings on Sunday of officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate.

Deen and Tate are the first police to die in the small city of Hattiesburg, southern Mississippi, in the line of duty in more than 30 years.

Marvin Banks, 29, and Joanie Calloway, 22, have each been charged with two counts of capital murder.

Banks was also charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and with grand theft for fleeing in the police cruiser after the shooting, said Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.

Banks' 26-year-old brother, Curtis Banks, was charged with two counts of accessory after the fact of capital murder.

The fourth person, 28-year-old Cornelius Clark, was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice, he added.

All four are expected to appear in the Forest County Justice Court on Monday.

A preliminary investigation has indicated Deen had pulled over the vehicle on suspicion of speeding and then called for backup, which is when Tate arrived.

Strain says it is too early to say who shot the officers or how many shots were fired. He said both officers died of their wounds at a hospital.

Local reports identified the 34-year-old Deen as a past department "Officer of the Year," and the 25-year-old Tate was a newcomer to the force who Strain said was a 2014 graduate of the law enforcement academy.