The funerals of six policemen killed in clashes with gunmen in central Tunisia will take place on Thursday in the five different towns they hailed from, officials said.

The latest deadly violence, which erupted in the central Sidi Bouzid region on Wednesday and which the authorities blamed on "terrorists," comes a week after two policemen were killed in similar circumstances and amid rising anti-government sentiment within the security forces.

Tunisia's Islamist Prime Minister Ali Larayedh said on Wednesday that his government was committed to the "principle" of resigning in line with a roadmap to end months of political deadlock.

"We repeat today our commitment to the principle of relinquishing power in line with the different phases envisaged in the roadmap," Larayedh said in a keenly awaited speech.

Six Tunisian police were killed in clashes with gunmen Wednesday, as the country waited for the government's expected resignation and the launch of talks on ending months of political deadlock.

Fighting erupted in the central Sidi Bouzid region, when members of the National Guard raided a house where the militants were holed up, a police source told Agence France Presse.

Tunisia's ruling Islamists and opposition were to begin hard-won negotiations on Wednesday to end months of political deadlock, with Prime Minister Ali Larayedh expected to announce his government's resignation.

Hundreds of opposition protesters gathered in central Tunis by early afternoon to keep up the pressure on the government, amid a heavy police presence, shouting slogans such as: "Government of traitors, resign!"

A senior member of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party accused the opposition of seeking to "destroy" negotiations between the two sides due to start on Wednesday by calling anti-government protests.

Tunisia was plunged into crisis by the July 25 killing of opposition MP Mohammed Brahmi, an attack blamed on radical Islamists, and mediators hope the long-awaited talks will bring an end to the political paralysis that has since the country.

Tunisian security forces killed nine "terrorists" and seized two tonnes of explosives Saturday in a military operation near where two policemen were killed two days earlier, the defense ministry said.

The nine were killed in the Mount Taouyer area of the Beja region, some 70 kilometers (40 miles) west of Tunis, spokesman Taoufik Rahmouni was quoted as saying by the official TAP news agency.

Tunisia's ruling Islamists and opposition parties are to start a national dialogue Wednesday to end the country's political stalemate, crisis mediators and members of the opposition have said.

This comes two weeks after the ruling Islamist party Ennahda agreed to stand down by late October in a roadmap to form a government of independents.

The commander of Tunisia's National Guard Mounir Ksiksi vowed Friday that offenders would be prosecuted after protesting security forces drove the country's top leaders from a memorial ceremony for two policemen killed by militants.

Ksiksi condemned the behavior of his men and vowed to penalize those responsible.

Angry members of the security forces on Friday drove Tunisia's President Moncef Marzouki and Prime Minister Ali Larayedh away from a memorial ceremony for two slain policeman, an Agence France Presse photographer said.

The security force members, some of them in uniform, shouted "Get out" at the Tunisian leaders, obliging them to leave the official ceremony at the military barracks in the Tunis suburb of L'Aouina.

Rapper Klay BBJ, jailed for six months for allegedly insulting Tunisian officials in his songs, was acquitted on appeal Thursday, in one of several cases which have angered rights groups.

"The court has decided to reject the accusations and to annul the sentencing of Ahmed Ben Ahmed," known as Klay BBJ, the judge announced at the end of the appeal hearing in Grombalia, south of Tunis.