The attack occurred at Gulshan area within Saba Saba where contingents of anti riot officers were patrolling.
“Several officers have been wounded and taken to hospital after the attack but one of the people whom we believe was part of the attackers has been shot dead,” a senior police officer said.
The Capital FM News correspondent in Mombasa said “the officers are from the Makupa police station”.
He said the attack occurred near the Mombasa Pentecostal church which was attacked by rioters on Monday.
The Kenya Red Cross said on its Twitter account that there was “one fatality, two critically injured and evacuated to hospital.”
There was no immediate official statement from the police.
Wednesday night’s incident is the second attack targeting police officers after youths hurled a grenade at a police truck on Tuesday, killing three prison warders and wounding 14 others.
Coast Provincial Police chief Aggrey Adoli said a major security operation was underway there to weed out criminal elements.
A dusk to dawn curfew was also reported in Majengo which is viewed as a bedrock of the violence sparked by Monday’s murder of radical Muslim cleric Aboud Rogo.
Rogo was gunned down by unknown assailants who blocked a van he was driving.
His wife who was with him in the vehicle sustained a gunshot wound on the leg but his child and father were not hurt.
Sections of Muslim leaders have accused the police of executing the cleric while others have called for restraint, and urged for calm as police investigate the matter.
Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere has however, denied involvement of any of his officers and pledged a thorough investigation.
The latest flare-up of violence occurred barely hours before President Mwai Kibaki was due in Mombasa for official engagements on Thursday.