South China police are investigating how an officer shot and killed a neurosurgeon in an early morning confrontation in the city of Guangzhou on Tuesday.

Physician Yin Fangming, 43, who was described by colleagues at the city's Zhujiang Hospital as "good-natured", was shot once through the heart.

The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau on Wednesday promised a "serious and fair" inquiry into the shooting.

A bureau spokesman said the shooting occurred near the hospital in the Haizhu District at 4:55 a.m., when a police officer from the bureau's Haizhu branch stopped to speak to the driver of a car that appeared suspicious because the license plates at front and rear were covered with newspaper.

But the driver refused to answer the officer's questions and forcibly grabbed the officer's police identification card, said the spokesman.

The driver allegedly put his car into reverse in an apparent attempt to hit the officer, and injured the officer's legs, the spokesman said.

The officer grabbed a door handle to stop the car, and he was dragged along the road for several meters, the spokesman said.

"The police officer was forced to fire his pistol, and the driver was shot and injured," he said.

The officer immediately called the emergency medical services and the driver was taken to Zhujiang Hospital, but he died after emergency treatment, the spokesman said.

The driver's car was not legally registered as required, and the license plate number was a military car number that had become invalid, the police spokesman said.

Police also found another two license plates, with registrations in Guangdong and Hunan provinces, in the trunk, he said.

"We have set up a joint investigation team involving local political and legislative committee, the procuratorate and the public security bureau. The police officer is helping the team with its investigation," he said.

"The team will carry out a serious and fair investigation," he added.

But the spokesman would not disclose the police officer's name or more details.

Yin Fangming was an associate professor and specialist in craniocerebral microsurgical anatomy, micro-neurosurgery, and interventional therapy of cerebrovascular diseases, according to the hospital website.

He had published more than 40 medical papers and participated in five key medical programs listed by Guangdong Province, state and military authorities. He had won prizes offered by the Guangdong Province for his outstanding achievements.

"I feel very sad that I suddenly lost such a nice colleague. He was good natured and never argued with others," Wang Qinghua, an associate professor of the Neurosurgery Department of Zhujiang Hospital, told Xinhua.

Yin had worked at the Neurosurgery Department since 2003, Wang said.

Local media reports said that Yin had had a brief quarrel with the police officer before being shot and he was shot in the heart and liver. He was taken to the hospital at 5:15 a.m.

Reports also said that Yin had been accompanied by a classmate who had returned from Germany and they had been drinking wine before the incident.

But the classmate, whose name and address were not disclosed, could not be reached for comment.

Wang said Yin's classmate, Wang Yanming, had been at the police's Haizhu branch since the incident, but he could not be visited without permission nor could he be reached because his mobile phone had been turned off.

"The police have not yet come to our department to question us, " Wang Qinghua said.

Staff at the Zhujiang Hospital information office declined to comment on the incident or on Yin.

Zhujiang Hospital, formally a military hospital, is affiliated to the Southern Medical University, the former First Military Medical University of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).

A police officer at the Haizhu branch told Xinhua on the phone that the case was being investigated by the municipal public security bureau and he could not provide further details.

A spokeswoman of the information office of the municipal public security bureau said on the phone: "We have notified the media about the latest development of the case and, sorry, I'm not allowed to give you more information because the investigation is not over yet."

The spokeswoman declined to be identified.