At least 20 people have been killed in ethnic clashes between the Muslim Hui minority and the Han majority in central China's Henan province with the area under military blockade, local residents said.
Women police patrol in Zhengzhou
"There are more than 10 Hui Muslims who died and more than 10 Han died," an employee surnamed Wang from the Zhongmou county taxi company told AFP.
He said the violence last week between the two groups was the worst in memory.
"Clashes have happened frequently before but this is the worst," he said. "The two groups used farm tools to fight each other."
Nanren village, near the south bank of the Yellow River in Zhongmou county, was one of the flashpoints of the confrontation, according to the imam with the village mosque.
Hu said at least six people died in Nanren and the unrest had yet to be quelled.
"Two Huis died here and four or five members of the Han nationality," the imam, surnamed Hu, told AFP by telephone.
Police lined the main road into the village Monday and stopped journalists entering. Busloads of armed police in riot gear were driving into the area.
The imam said the clash erupted late last week when Hui truck drivers from Nanren tried to pass through a village mostly inhabited by Han Chinese and a Hui was beaten up over a traffic dispute.
Soon afterwards thousands of Han Chinese surrounded Nanren. A confrontation developed in which several houses were burnt down and a brick factory was destroyed, Hu said.
The fatalities that Hu referred to happened during this clash, which was only quelled when troops from the regular and paramilitary People's Armed Police arrived.
A local resident surnamed Han described another incident in Liangchenggang village 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) east of Nanran, in which 10 people were said to have died.
"I heard that 100 to 200 Muslims arrived from another part of China China and they were stopped at a roadblock," he said.
Hui Chinese Muslims pray during afternoon prayers at Yinchaun Central Mosque AFP/File
"They got off the bus and started fighting with police. Police used tear gas to disperse them but they got through. I heard that 10 people died in that clash."
Han did not know whether police or Muslims died but said he believed the fighting was not over. "I expect there will be more fighting. The Han Chinese will want revenge," he said.
The New York Times reported that almost 150 people were killed but locals played this figure down.
A female officer in the area's main police station said she was one of the only ones left as her colleagues were out trying to control the disturbances.
"Normally there are several hundred police here but they have all gone to the scene," she said. "The People's Armed Police has also gone to the scene."
The Henan Religious Affairs Bureau confirmed there had been fighting. "Officials have been sent there to try and calm down the two sides," an official surnamed Chen told AFP.
"When the clash erupted, the situation was intense."
Local journalists in the region said a news blackout was in force.
"We want to report about it but the central government doesn't want us to," said a journalist with Henan Daily. "They are afraid to trigger conflict among the ethnic groups."
China's Huis are descendants of Arab and Persian traders. Over the centuries they have mixed so thoroughly with the Han Chinese that they are virtually indistinguishable from each other apart from different customs and dress codes. The Huis are generally considered among China's best assimilated minorities, although occasional clashes with other groups are known to have occurred.
In early 2002 ethnic Huis clashed with Tibetans in a rural county of northwestern Qinghai province, leading to a large number of injuries. Several Huis were sentenced to long jail terms.
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