"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. Martial law has been declared in the village, people are prevented from getting in or out."

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 prevented journalists from entering.

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 one of them was beaten up over a traffic dispute.

Soon afterwards thousands of Han Chinese surrounded Nanren. A confrontation developed in which a number of 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 said there was another incident in Liangchenggang village 10km east of Nanran, in which 10 people died.