Eleven officers and five villagers are in hospital following an attack on police on Tuesday in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the local government said yesterday.

The five villagers of Maling Town in Guangxi's Lipu County were shot by officers as they and dozens of others launched an attack, throwing stones, pickaxes, knives, bars and Molotov cocktail at the police, the China News Service reported.

One officer suffered burns in the conflict triggered by the detention of 12 villagers suspected of assaulting court bailiffs over a land dispute.

Officers of Lipu public security bureau arrived at Longya Village early on Tuesday to detain suspects over the December 15 incident. They were besieged as they tried to leave with the suspects.

Officers first fired warning shots but couldn't stop the attack, the Lipu government said.

Also on Tuesday, two villagers were shot dead in a struggle with a police officer in Guizhou Province, adjacent to Guangxi, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.