Two men have been killed in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia in a police operation amid deadly unrest between Indigenous Kanak people and French authorities.

The incident occurred on Thursday in Saint Louis, south of the capital Noumea, during a police intervention to apprehend people who have been suspected of participating in two weeks of violence in May, including armed robbery and attacks on security personnel.

French news agency AFP reported that two men were shot dead by police, citing public prosecutor Yves Dupas.

The officers were allegedly "directly threatened by a group of armed individuals," at which point they fired off two shots, one of which "hit a man, aged 30, positioned as a lone gunman, in the right side of the abdomen."

"The second shot hit a man, aged 29, in the chest," Dupas said.

Thursday's deaths bring the toll from the recent unrest to 13.

What led to the unrest?

In May, violence was triggered in the French Pacific territory, following Paris' plan for voting reforms which the Kanaks — who have long sought to break free from France — fear would further marginalize them and weaken their chances of winning independence.

The reforms involved voting rights for thousands of non-Indigenous, long-term residents in the territory, which has a population of 270,000.

France deployed thousands of troops and police to the territory — located almost 17,000 kilometers (10,600 miles) away from Paris — to tackle the unrest. 

Hundreds of people were injured and the damage from the riots is estimated at around €2.2 billion ($2.4 billion).

In June, French President Emmanuel Macron suspended the controversial reform but violence has continued to persist.

French authorities in New Caledonia imposed an extended curfew last week, putting a ban on gatherings and travel across the archipelago from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., over a fear of protests by the Kanak people in the light week's anniversary of the French takeover of the territory.

France took New Caledonia in 1853 and granted citizenship to all Kanaks in 1957.

dvv/ab (AFP, AP, Reuters)