Two police officers have been shot in Ferguson in the latest clash between civilians and law enforcers in the troubled city on 12 March, 2015.

One officer was shot in the face and the other was hit in the shoulder, according to St Louis County police chief Jon Belmar.

He added that their injuries were "very serious," while suggesting that the officers were deliberately targeted and not hit by stray bullets.

Gunshots were fired after citizens gathered outside the police department building following the resignation of police chief Thomas Jackson earlier this week.

Ferguson has been the scene of numerous bouts of civil unrest, centring on the fractious relations between police and the local community and black civil rights. The trouble began with the shooting of teenager Michael Brown last year.

Jackson stepped down from his post earlier this week following a report which cleared Brown's killer of civil rights charges relating to his death.

More about police relations in Ferguson