4 police officers shot in New Zealand

A police helicopter lands on a property near Kawerau in Rotorua, New Zealand on March 9, 2016. Four police officers were shot and injured earlier today as police responded to an armed incident. [Photo/CFP]

WELLINGTON - The military has been called in to help capture an armed person who shot and wounded four police officers in an incident in the Bay of Plenty, on the east of New Zealand's North Island, Wednesday, said the New Zealand Police.

The four officers had been taken to hospital where they are being treated for their injuries, said a statement from the Police.

Police initially said three officers had been shot, but it later emerged a fourth had been injured.

Deputy Police Commissioner Mike Clement said in a broadcast press conference that only one offender was thought to be involved.

The alleged offender was still in a rural house that had been cordoned off on a road just outside Kawerau.

The police Armed Offenders Squad was currently at the scene and police had asked the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) for assistance.

The NZDF had provided one NH-90 tactical lift helicopter and three light armored vehicles, Clement said in a statement later Wednesday.

Police had been in the area in the morning to seize illegal cannabis when the first shots were fired.

All the injured officers were men, he said.

Two were in a stable condition in hospital, the third in a serious but stable condition, and the fourth was receiving treatment for a gunshot wound to a hand.